Stone Pinions
by Lochar
Summary: Sequel to Clay Pinions. Another year at Hogwarts brings new students, a striking new professor, a new threat, and a Harry who has learned one of magic's secrets. Xenogears crossover. XG knowledge helpful, but not required.
1. Prologue: Return of one lost

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: As this is the first in this year's stories, I guess you need a real disclaimer. Anything you recognize from HP doesn't belong to me. Anything you don't recognize probably belongs to the Xenogears people. Anything else you don't recognize (is there anything) might belong to me, but if the lawyers push it, I'll give it away anyways.

Prologue: Return of One Lost

* * *

"Ma'am, you cannot go in there. There is a meeting is going on, and no one other then those already inside are invited." The guard gazed at the woman attempting to enter. She stood slightly taller than himself and wore dark, loose clothes that generally hid her shape. To the guard, her most striking features were easily her long purple hair that flowed down to her mid-back, and her crystal-clear blue eyes. Eyes that held a dark depth that seemed to draw him in. He pulled back slightly, shuddering.

The woman let out a slightly exasperated sigh. "I know they're meeting there, that's why I'm here. I've already talked to the Emperor, so if you don't get out of my way, I will presently become vexed with you."

The guard's eyes widened, but he shook his head. "I can't let you through, and the Emperor sent ahead no word of your coming."

She sighed again. "I am Miang." At no sign of recognition from the guard, she looked up at the ceiling. "And that is what happens when I am forced away for over a decade. I will have to reeducate these people on whom I am." She pulled a slender stick from inside her sleeve. "I guess now is as good a time as any to see if the abilities transferred as well." Pointing it at the guard and smiling, she uttered a single word.

"_Crucio." _

The guard immediately dropped to the ground, his back arching in agony as his mouth opened into a wordless scream. Miang calmly walked past the guard and opened the door to the meeting chamber, only stopping to note, "Interesting ability. I'll have to learn moderation when using it though." Ending the spell almost thoughtlessly, the guard behind her curled into a ball, shivering.

One of the people in the room looked up. "Who dares…? Ah, I see you have returned, Miang." He looked at the fallen guard that was just now beginning to uncurl. "Interesting. Was that an ability of your host?"

Miang nodded. "Yes. I managed to take a host that was part of the magical strain of humanity. Unfortunately, she was very strong willed, and by the time I took over her completely, she'd been thrown into their prison and I was forced to wait. Interesting guards; some type of specter."

Another at the table spoke up. "And the reason you did not just leave this prison?"

"I had to wait until they stopped making daily checks on my host. It then took me several years to set up something to where my absence would not be missed. The guardians of that prison are not easily fooled." Miang looked at the wand in her hand. "And on top of that, it took me almost three years to remove another being's mark from my host; it was unfortunately necessary as it could be used against me. Even already subdued, she fiercely fought to keep it." She faintly brushed her left arm. "Even now, she still wails inside her mind about its loss."

"A powerful host then. Does the fight continue?"

Miang gave the group a cold smile. "No. Her spirit was lost to madness once I removed the link she carried."

The gathered group nodded. "On to other matters then. Is there anything the Gazel may do for you?"

Miang shook her head. "No. I have been told that you already know of my true other half and her Contact. Since they were born magical, Cain decreed you were not to interfere, correct?"

The atmosphere seemed to change slightly, as the lead frowned. "Yes. The Emperor did not allow us to remove them either, to allow a rebirth outside the magical line."

"As well. I will be going to check on them this year. I have already talked to Cain and told him of my plans. Don't worry; I will respect the Emperor's wishes in regards to the children for now. I will be currently sending to you the one I need removed so I may watch them."

Another spoke up. "And how will you watch them without drawing their suspicion?"

Holding the wand up, Miang waved it and sparks came out. "I will be able to be there as a magical person as well. The children could use a few good lessons."

The lead looked to the guard at the door, whom was now standing on trembling legs. "Just don't teach the way you taught him. I can't see something like that being legal."

* * *

Alright, here's the Prologue to Year 2. As I'm currently being beaten up by my reviewers to finish Nine Months, that's what I'm doing now. This ought to hold you guys for a few more days, until I get that done and beta'd. 

Read and review, as always.


	2. 1: Sensei, where are you going?

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: I'm running out of witty comments here. So, anyways. Harry Potter. Ginny Potter... I mean Weasley. The rest of the crew. They don't belong to me. Xenogears? Miang? Nope, not mine either. Storyline? Nominally mine. Maybe.

Chapter 1: Sensei, where are you going?

* * *

Harry and Dudley quietly talked in the backseat of Vernon's car on the ride back to Privet Drive. Harry made sure not to mention too much about his school while Uncle Vernon was able to hear, so he mainly listened to Dudley describe what had happened during his year. 

"You did what?" Harry laughed. "You broke someone's arm?"

Dudley sheepishly shrugged. "Yeah… but it's not like I had much choice. He was trying to beat me up and kick me out of the martial arts club at school. So I had to fight back! Got myself kicked out anyways." He then brightened and added, "I think they're going to let me back in next year though."

"Sounds like you had fun then." A corner of Harry's mouth slyly upturned. "All I got to do was fight a troll."

Dudley's eyes went wide, and Vernon made a strangled noise up front. "What!" Dudley's voice seemed strangled as well.

Harry shook his head. "Tell ya later." He glanced towards his uncle up front. "I'd rather hear what else you did."

Dudley nodded his understanding. "Ok, umm... Hey, my instructor that Dad got for me when you left gave me a new punching bag. He destroyed our old one with one punch!"

"No _way_… We were always trying to kill that thing, and we couldn't do that." Harry shook his head.

"Yeah! It really was cool. Put his fist right through it, then brought us a new one." Dudley grinned, remembering the event. "Surprised the heck out of me and Dad both."

The car slowed to a stop, and Vernon turned to the two of them. "We're home." He looked at Harry through narrowed eyes. "Get your stuff."

Harry and Dudley jumped out of the car, both of them grabbing Harry's things. They took it all upstairs to the second bedroom and left it in a pile on the floor, except for Hedwig's cage, which Harry set on the dresser next to the window. "I'll let you out tonight so you can go hunting, okay girl?"

Hedwig hooted and tucked her head under her wing to go to sleep.

Dudley rolled his eyes. "C'mon, I wanna go downstairs and spar with you. Sensei Uzuki keeps me from sparring with a lot of the people at _The Dojo_ since Rico's teaching me stuff they don't know. So I don't get to spar as much anymore."

Harry shrugged. "Fine by me; the only person I ever got to spar with at school was Professor Maison, and it wasn't really sparring; it was always me trying to keep myself from being hit."

They walked back downstairs, Dudley filling Harry in on more of what had happened over his school year.

Petunia smiled at them when they walked through the kitchen. "You two going to practice some?"

Dudley nodded. "Yeah Mum, we're going to go spar in the backyard."

"Oh, that reminds me. I got a call from your Sensei this morning, right after you and your dad left to pick up Harry. He said he didn't want the two of you sparring until he can test where you're at Harry." Petunia told them.

"Aww, that sucks. Here I was hoping I could finally beat Harry up." Dudley half complained, half laughed.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Like you ever could, Dudley."

"Oh yeah? C'mon then. We'll go show off what we've learned and see who's learned the better moves." Dudley grabbed Harry's arm and practically dragged him outside, Harry laughing the whole way.

-

"Alright, we'll use the punching bag." Dudley said.

Harry looked at the large metal frame and punching bag dubiously. "You sure? This thing looks like a few good hits from either of us and it'll fall apart."

"That's what I thought at first, too. But I've been beating on it all school year and it hasn't broken yet." Dudley looked at him mischievously. "Although, I think if we both went off on it like our old bag, we'd blow it away in no time."

Laughing, Harry nodded. "Probably. You first, or me?"

Dudley shrugged. "Guess I'll show off first. Watch this."

Harry watched, curious, as he felt Dudley channel his Chi through his arm. _He channeled it twice?_ Punching hard, Dudley hit the bag, which flexed out and then came back to a standstill.

"Cool. You're going to have to show me how you did that. Now watch this."

Dudley took a step away from the bag, and Harry took his place. Taking a deep breath, Harry channeled his Chi into his fist.

"Big deal." Dudley laughed. "We were doing that before you went off to that school. Did your brains go soft while you were there?"

Harry grinned at him slightly. "Nah, I learned this instead."

This time it was Dudley who was had a shocked look, as the Chi around Harry's hand seemed to expand and then harden. Harry punched the bag from his side, and the bag arced out towards Dudley.

"See?" Harry smirked.

Dudley grinned back his challenge. "Oh yeah? That wasn't the only thing I learned this year."

o0o

Both boys were thoroughly exhausted by that night, and not too much better the next morning. When they both trudged downstairs for breakfast, Petunia smiled at them.

"Good morning, you two."

"Morning Mum." "Morning Aunt Petunia." Came their sleepy replies.

"You'd better take it easy. You don't want to be falling asleep this afternoon at _The Dojo_, do you?"

Harry looked up quickly. His aunt was smiling at the two of them; her eyes seemed to be laughing a bit. "No, we don't. Sensei would probably really run us ragged then."

Dudley mumbled something into the bowl of cereal he was quickly eating.

"Say that again, love?" Aunt Pentunia asked.

Dudley put the spoon down long enough to answer her. "After that thing a couple of weeks ago, Sensei has been a little touchy."

"What thing?" Harry asked, puzzled.

Dudley shrugged, then picked his spoon back up. "Sensei was sparring with Chad, one of the older students, and went to show him something. All of a sudden, everyone in the room could feel Sensei's Chi go crazy for a minute. Nearly hurt Chad, too."

"Really weird. Did he explain what happened?"

"Nah. He apologized, but wouldn't say anything about it. Sensei hasn't sparred a lot since then, and everyone's been real careful, but nothing's happened."

"Are you two going to be alright in that class then?" Worry could be heard in Petunia's voice.

"Of course!" Dudley hastily assured her. "Sensei wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose, and I think it was just a one time thing that happened."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sensei Uzuki stood at one end of the training hall in _The Dojo_, looking over the large group, which was comprised of all the students that attended the classes he held. "Good afternoon class. I have an announcement to make. It's been two weeks in the making, as I wanted to wait until all the students were here, so I wouldn't have to do this twice."

Dudley nudged Harry. "I think you're his only student that hasn't showed up since that accident with Chad. Wonder what he was waiting on that he couldn't say to you separate?" He whispered.

"I am getting to that, Dudley. If you'd be so kind as to let me finish?" Uzuki's voice rang out over the class. Dudley immediately shut up and paid attention. "Have you at least explained to your cousin what happened; as far as you know?"

Dudley gave a small, embarrassed nod.

"Good. Since I don't have to go over that again, for reasons of a personal matter, I will have to be returning to my ancestral home in Japan sometime before Christmas." Uzuki announced to the class. He then waited a few minutes to allow the students' murmurs to die down. "I am sorry about this, but I do not have much of a choice. I am not sure how long I will be there, so _The Dojo_ will close, and will most likely not reopen. I'd like to have a sit-down conference with each of you though, so as to discuss where you are, and where you might be able to go. I know the names of several instructors in the area that you could get continued training from."

The training hall was silent. Harry just stood there like the rest of the students, dumbstruck from their Sensei's sudden announcement.

Uzuki absently nodded, understanding their silence. "We'll go alphabetically. Chad Anderson, if you would?" He beckoned the older boy to his office. Chad walked in, and Uzuki started to follow. Before he walked in though, he turned around. "Take a free day today, until I'm done with everyone." He turned back and walked into the office.

Harry and Dudley sunk down to the ground. Harry looked to his cousin. "What in the world happened to him that he'd have to leave?"

Dudley shrugged weakly. "I dunno. I didn't think him losing control of his Chi once would be that big of a deal though."

"I don't think it is either." A female voice said from behind them. Harry and Dudley turned, and Dudley waved to her.

"Hey Valda, how are you?"

She sat down with them. "Eh. This sucks." She seemed to just notice Harry. "Oh, hi. I'm Valda by the way."

"I'm Harry."

"So, either of you know what might have really made Sensei have to leave?" She asked.

Both boys shook their heads no.

Before she could say anything else, Chad left Uzuki's office. Everyone looked at him, but he didn't say anything except to yell at one of the students. "Hey, Boyle. You're next."

The student in question stood up and went into the office. Any attempts to question Chad were rebuffed, as he sat there, looking morose.

Valda nodded towards him. "Looks like he really does think it was his fault."

Harry sighed. "Yeah. I may not have been here, but it doesn't sound like it. Sensei could have been sparring with anyone and it could've happened."

"Dudley, you're next!" The student's voice echoed over the quiet dojo.

Dudley stood up and nervously looked at Valda and Harry. "Guess I'll find out what's up now, huh?"

They nodded, and watched as Dudley walked into the office. Harry and Valda sat in silence, wondering what might happen next. After a few minutes, Dudley walked out of the office and called another student. He then sat back down with Harry and Valda.

Before they could ask, he spoke up. "He didn't say much. Just said it was a pleasure to have me in here, and that Rico would be able to see to my training. He looked tired, though."

Harry shared a look with Dudley, seeming to asking if that was it, before nodding.

A few more students, including Valda, were called into the office before Uzuki stepped out with the latest student and called, "Mr. Potter. Yours will take a bit longer, as I might as well test your skill level while we are at it."

Harry stood up and grinned nervously at Dudley. "See you in a bit then."

Stepping into Uzuki's office, Harry took a quick look around. It hadn't changed any since he had been in it last year.

"Close the door, Mr. Potter. We have much to discuss." Uzuki said from behind his desk.

Harry closed the door and sat down in one of the chairs across from his Sensei.

"Let's get the pleasantries out of the way. How was school?"

Harry spoke slightly tentatively. "It was fun, but I missed being here as well."

Uzuki smiled knowingly at him. "Dumbledore is still the Headmaster there at Hogwarts, right?"

Harry started. "What, umm… What's Hogwarts?"

Uzuki laughed softly. "Don't worry about not telling me about magic, Harry. I didn't live this long without learning about a few truths in the world. Really, I've been keeping up quite closely with Maison as to how you were doing. Although, he did think I was a Muggle, so it was all by the slow post and rather vague at times."

Harry picked up on what he said, and asked, "He _thought_ you were a Muggle? Does that mean you're a Wizard? Or a Squib?"

Uzuki nodded. "Yes, I am a wizard. As a matter of fact, I find I must thank you for your hard work this year."

"Sir?"

Uzuki laughed to himself softly. "Why, for protecting the Philosopher's Stone for me, of course. Allow me to tell you who the Wizarding World knows me as. I am Nicholas Flamel."

Harry sat there, mouth agape, trying to find something to say to this revelation.

Harry's Sensei let out a tired sigh. "Harry, please. Would you like me to sit here, gaping at you because you're the Boy-Who-Lived?"

Harry quickly snapped his mouth close. "Uh, no sir. Umm, what would you like me to call you? Sensei Uzuki, or Flamel?"

"Uzuki. Nicholas Flamel is dying to the world of magic. Since my argument with Dumbledore, I decided it would be better to let him think that I would rather die than let it fall into someone else's hands."

"Sir?"

Flamel sighed. "What did Albus tell you, Harry?"

"That you and the Headmaster decided that it would be best to destroy the Stone. That you were prepared for what he called, 'the next great adventure'." Harry answered him, confusion clearly written on his face.

"No man is ever ready to die, Harry. Why would we go to such great lengths to extend our lives, and invent machines to help us live, if not to keep away the specter of death? Even Albus himself does not want to die. He requested of me that I allow him to keep the shards of my stone. He was at one point my apprentice, and I think he wished to try to rebuild it. I told him I would rather destroy the stone and pass on than allow anyone else to use my achievement for themselves." Flamel watched Harry's reaction while he explained this.

"So then, why did the Headmaster tell me that?"

Flamel shrugged. "I have no idea why he told you that, but my best guess would be so that you would not feel remorse for destroying the link to my way of living." Harry winced. "Oh, don't worry about it. Did he tell you how I had enough Elixir to set my affairs in order?" Harry nodded faintly. "What he doesn't realize, is that one of my affairs is to recreate the Stone for my wife and myself. And I don't have any plans to die soon."

Flamel pushed the issue aside with a wave of his hand. "Anyways, on to happier things. I do have something for you and your friends; for your brave work at stopping Voldemort from capturing the stone."

Harry shook his head. "We guessed it was the wrong teacher though. Quirrell had us completely fooled."

"It matters not that you assumed wrong about the culprit, Harry. You managed to achieve remarkable results, especially for first years. So therefore, it is within my rights to give you and your friends thanks."

Flamel stood up, and pulled a box off the shelf behind his desk. Setting it down on the desk between them, Harry saw that what at first appeared to be a simple wooden box actually had several very detailed, yet small designs on it. There was a latch over the lid, with a simple lock. Removing the lock and opening it, Flamel turned the box to let Harry see what was in it. Inside were several small crystals, each a deep red color. There were six of them, set in a circle around a much larger gem.

Harry gasped. "Is that… the Philosopher's Stone?"

Flamel smiled gently. "No Harry, not quite. What these are, are actually known as focusing crystals. The large one is technically a focusing gem, but it follows the same pattern."

"Pattern?" Harry questioned.

"Let me see if I can explain this correctly…" Flamel sat back in his chair, readying himself to tell the boy in front of him a tale few living people knew. "Hundreds of years before even my birth, there were Wizards and Witches. You will notice that Ollivander's shop has been making wands since 352 B.C., correct?" Harry nodded. "Back then, wand making wasn't as technical as it is now. A wand in that time period was merely a piece of wood, shaped and carved to allow a person's magic to easily flow through it. The majority of the wizarding community back then used wandless magic; but a wand, a piece of wood carved correctly, allowed for magic to be cast with much less effort. Ollivander's family was one that seemed to have a knack for matching a wizard with a specific piece of wood, from different trees."

Flamel paused, considering his next words.

"As soon as it was shown that a very well matched wand could make spell casting stronger, easier; most wizards adopted the use of a wand. Wizards and witches all over England and the rest of the known world at the time learned first the use of magic, then were given a wand to allow for magic to be cast easier."

Harry frowned. "How does a wand make it easier to cast?"

"Matched to a person, the wand's wood allowed for magic to flow easier from the person casting. A person who had trouble with a certain spell, with a wand could cast that same spell with less difficulty."

Harry nodded his understanding. "Ok, the wood made it easier to cast. But then why do we have cores?"

Flamel laughed. "You make this story easy for me to tell. A few hundred years after the adoption of wands, people wanted to make it even easier to cast spells. Thus, they turned to the magical creatures in our world. The adding of a component of a magical creature exists as an amplifier to a person's magical core. Again though, they had to be matched very closely to a person, for any real effect to be seen. Some people during this time period looked at this though, and wanted to make a core that could be used by anyone."

Flamel's eyes clouded as he thought back. "I think it was actually a wizard whose parent was a glassblower that figured it out. Glass and crystal make for very good amplifiers, Harry, if they are properly created. But both are very fragile, and adding a charm to make it unbreakable always altered the magical properties. So they tried growing their own crystals. They went to some of the most magically active places in the world. Here, in Britain, there was only one place of such high latent magic that it was deemed suitable for their attempt. Where Hogwarts now stands, used to be a crystal-growing field.

"They managed to create a crystal that was nearly shatterproof, without requiring an unbreakable charm. Because they were grown in such a potent magical environment, once the crystals were shaped, they were the strongest focuses there were."

Harry, again confused, spoke up. "Then why do we use phoenix, unicorn, and dragon parts for cores?"

Flamel waved his hand over the box with the crystals again. "Because, Harry, to grow even the smallest of usable focuses it took nearly twenty years, and required harvesting a sizable portion of the field of crystal, since the magic in the area tended to compress the crystal. A focusing crystal could run a wizard somewhere in the range of several hundred thousands of Galleons." Harry let out a low whistle.

Flamel looked up at the clock mounted on the wall. "Do me a favor. This conference is taking a little longer than I expected. Channel as much Chi as you can into an Iron Fist."

Though Harry was confused by the sudden change of topic, he did as requested. Closing his eyes, he channeled most of his Chi into his fist, and then solidified it around his hand. Opening his eyes, he looked to Flamel. "Like this, Sensei?"

Flamel nodded. "Good. You can let it go now. I just wanted everyone out there to not start wondering why they didn't sense any Chi being used. Every few minutes, keep doing that."

"Yes sir."

"Anyways, as I was saying. Focusing crystals are extremely expensive, and very hard to find. So wizards continued learning wandless magic, and then using a wand."

"But then why don't we learn wandless magic first at Hogwarts?" Questioned, Harry.

"Because of the Rune of Absorption inscribed on all new wands." His Sensei answered. "About thirty or so years after I was born, it was discovered that by putting that rune on a wand, it allowed the wand to draw enough magic from a wizard's core to cast spells without the wizard having to channel magic into the wand. After a hundred years rune inscribed wands became the norm, and wandless magic fell to the wayside."

Flamel closed the lid on the box with the crystals in it. "Harry, these crystals were not grown. Alchemy created them. The reason most people go into alchemy these days is to try to re-create these crystals; but it still takes a major investment of time and energy. The gem inside this box is not for a wand, but for a wizard's staff or to be used alone. You have a Rune of Control on your wand to keep you from overpowering it. You would channel magic into these crystals just the same as you would your wand. But if you have one of these put onto a wand for yourself, they will not accept magic drawn through a Rune of Absorption. A wizard must be able to channel their own magic. Or in your case, Chi. They will accept both energies."

Harry nodded slowly and said, "So… if I can channel my own magic, does that mean I can do wandless magic?"

Flamel smiled, happy his student understood. "Yes. And in reality, you are. You channel your magic yourself; you just use the wand as a focus to make it stronger."

He stepped out from behind his desk. "If I raise my hand, point a finger at my desk and say, '_Wingardium Leviosa'_, the table flies." As he said this, his desk rose from the ground. "But it is not the words themselves." He waved his hand, and the desk set itself back down on the ground. "Magic has been around since before we spoke this language, or even the Latin that most of our spells are based in. True magic is based on your own magical ability and your will. I channel my magic at the desk, focusing on making the table rise. Certain words and even swishes of the wand help us to focus. But just saying, 'up in the air with you'," the desk rose again, "is enough if you can focus your magic on the desk. Words are not necessary though." The desk set down on the floor.

Flamel slyly grinned. "My favorite thing to do with someone that I show this to is to make something float in the air. But as that is fairly common, it is always more interesting to tell the desk to," he looked at the desk again, "'bury yourself in the ground'." The desk lifted into the air.

Harry frowned, confused. "But you told it to bury itself. Why did it lift off the ground?"

"That is the thing. You are considering me saying that to try to bury the desk. But I focused my magic on making it lift into the air instead."

Harry's eyes lit up. "Ohhh, so that means no one ever knows what spell you're actually casting. I could say the Jelly-legs jinx and make it any spell I wanted it to be."

"Exactly; although you will have to overcome the difference in your own mind between what you are saying and what you want to happen. It would be best to stick to something describing your spell until you are more familiar with the spell itself. Now for your friends. I think your red-haired friend Ron collects Chocolate Frog cards, does he not?"

Harry slowly nodded, again confused by his Sensei's non sequitur.

"I think he will enjoy these then." Flamel reached down to open one of the drawers in his desk, and pulled two cards. He signed one of them, and then handed them both to Harry. "Two of the last remaining cards with my picture on them. I was getting tired of being recognized so I contacted the company about two hundred years ago and put a bounty on these cards to get them all withdrawn. Now I am quite a bit less noticeable and not constantly bugged to create something for people. He should be able to turn one of the cards in if he wishes, and get a substantial amount of Galleons for it. The signed one is for his personal collection."

Harry laughed and moved to take them. "He'll love it. Thank you Sensei."

"I am not done yet. Your other friend, she is a studious person, is she not?"

"Yes sir, she is."

Flamel got up and went to his selves to pull a book down. "Then I think she will enjoy this. Neither of you are allowed to let Albus read this book; that is my one rule regarding this gift."

Harry agreed, not seeing any problems with it. He looked at the book. "'_The Alchemic Grimoire of Nicholas Flamel, Vol. 3'_. Wow, you're giving Hermione a book on Alchemy?"

"Yes. Although, she will not be able to use it, as it does not define any of the terms used. It is from my personal collection for her to start a collection as well. Now, there is just one last thing to do."

"Sensei?"

Flamel tapped the book with his finger. "Smaller, please." The book obliged and shrunk. He looked at Harry. "A simple Finite will cancel it, so you may give her the book. I need to bind the focusing gem and the box itself to you, before I shrink it."

"Bind it to me?" Harry asked dubiously. Visions of the box being stuck to his back or his chest ran through his mind.

"Yes. So that only you may open the box, or use the gem. I will allow you to give the crystals to whomever you choose, but the gem is a personal object for you." Flamel moved his hand to the desktop and picked up a needle that Harry was sure wasn't there a second ago. "I need two drops of your blood."

Harry held out his finger, and Flamel pricked it with the needle. He opened the box once more, and dropped the blood onto the gem. It seemed to absorb the blood, before turning a deeper shade of red. He then did the same thing with the lock on the box.

"It is just as easy to bind the crystals to a person. And it would be wise for the person that you give them to, to bind it to themselves so their wand may not be used against them. A bound crystal or gem will only allow magic to pass through it from the bound person." He closed the box and grinned at Harry. "As big as a house, if you would." He said as he tapped the box.

The box shrunk to pocket size.

Flamel looked at the clock and sighed. "It is getting late. I think we are going to have to postpone the lesson I had planned for this afternoon if I am to talk to the rest of the students." He stood up and moved to the door before he caught himself. "Oh yes, and next summer I think it would do well for you to work with Rico and Dudley. Now come along, we've been in here long enough, and I want to go through the rest of my students before midnight."

"Yes sir, Sensei Uzuki." Harry replied. He put the shrunken book and box into his pocket, following him out of the room.

* * *

So, how was it? Good, bad, kinda sad? Show of hands who expected that little twist. 

Read and review!

Beta Note: Sorry 'bout the delay; it was my fault. Or if you want to get specific, Comcast's fault.


	3. 2: Lessons and Birthdays

**Stone Pinions**

**By: Lochar**

Disclaimer: Yadda, yadda, yadda, don't own it, blah, blah, blah.

Chapter 2: Lessons and birthdays

* * *

The next day found Harry sitting alone in the tree in the backyard, staring up at the sky. "Sensei Uzuki is the alchemist Nicholas Flamel. Who would have thought?" He chuckled to himself.

Reaching into his pocket, he felt the shrunken box his Sensei had given him and pulled it out. He turned it around in his hands a few times, before sighing and putting it away again. _No use trying to restore it wandlessly and then making it blow up or something. I'll wait till I'm allowed to use my wand again. _

The rest of the previous night had not gone well, either. He vaguely remembered leaving the office and Dudley asking him what he'd said. He'd told Dudley that Sensei had said he'd be working with Rico, but didn't mention anything else. Dudley hadn't completely believed that and had said he wanted the rest of the story later.

Looking up again at the puffy clouds, Harry continued to let his mind wander. He slowly slipped into the Void, allowing its quiet to calm his mind. He sat like that for some time, allowing the notion that everything would turn out well in the end to encompass him.

Harry was literally shaken out of his reverie when the limb he was sitting on shook. Blinking away his bemusement, Harry watched as Dudley pulled himself onto the branch as well, and then climbed one higher. He stopped and looked down at Harry.

"So, what else did Sensei say last night, Harry? Testing you couldn't have taken that long. Did he tell you what happened?" Dudley asked. He lay down against the thick oak branch, watching Harry intently.

Laughing quietly to himself, Harry nodded. "Something like that. We did have a long conversation. He wanted to know how my school year had gone and stuff. Turns out he's a wizard as well."

Dudley laughed out loud. "Dad would have a fit if you told him that, Harry. He'd go off for hours if he knew we'd been going to a wizard for martial arts training. You know he doesn't even like us saying anything about it."

Harry grinned at the thought. "Yeah. I can just see him ranting. Anyway, Sensei knows my Headmaster at Hogwarts, so he wanted to know how the school was doing. That's what took so long. That, and he gave me something for my magic as well."

Dudley perked up. "Oh, really? What'd he give you?"

Harry pulled the shrunk box out of his pocket again. "This. It's actually a decent sized box, but he shrunk it down. Supposedly the crystals in here are worth a lot of the Wizarding World's money. They're supposed to be really good for magic."

Shrugging, Dudley grabbed the box and looked at it. "Hmm? How are you supposed to make it bigger again?"

"I can do that with my wand, but I'm not supposed to use magic outside of school. Some sort of rule. If I break it, those guys from last year will probably come back again."

Dudley nodded and handed the box back. "It'd almost be worth it. I'd love to see what they'd do this time." He said with a grin.

"Do you enjoy messing with the lawmen, Dudley?" Harry grinned back at him. "That's what you'd do. Besides, if I'm going to get into trouble, it's going to have to be over something a lot more important than making a box bigger." His grin turned sly. "Like maybe shrinking you."

Dudley mock shuddered. "No, not that. How will we spar if I'm only three feet tall?"

"Who said anything about three feet? I think I could manage to get you down to no more than a foot tall." Harry laughed as he dropped out of the tree. "Come on, short stuff, let's go see what Aunt Petunia's got to eat."

Dudley climbed down as well, glaring at him, and Harry looked back at him.

"Thanks for cheering me up too." Dudley shrugged at that. "Hey, do you think I could go with you to Rico's sometime this break?"

"Dunno. I don't think he's set up for another student. We can ask. And I'm going to get you back for that comment."

They boys walked into the house and found Petunia tidying up the kitchen.

"Hey Mum, can we have a snack? We're hungry." Dudley asked.

Petunia smiled. "Alright, but no spoiling your supper." She rummaged around in the refrigerator for a moment, and then pulled out a plate. "One each, the rest are for dessert after dinner." She unwrapped the plate, revealing cookies.

Both boys grinned and grabbed one. "Thanks Mum." "Thank you Aunt Petunia."

She nodded. "Alright, you two, scat. I don't need you underfoot begging for more cookies."

Harry grinned again at her, then looked at Dudley. "Come on Dudley, let's see what's on the telly."

"Alright, but I get first dibs on picking the station!" Dudley yelled as he raced out of the kitchen, followed closely by Harry.

Petunia smiled. "Those boys." She shook her head as she returned to what she'd been doing.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hey Rico. Can my cousin Harry come with us this time?" Dudley asked the next day when Rico showed up to take him for his Saturday lesson.

Rico looked Harry over, assessing him. "What's up? You want to learn some martial arts?"

"I already know them. Sensei Uzuki says that next year after he's left he wants you to take over my training." Harry grinned at him. "Both Sensei and Professor Maison say I'm doing really good."

"Is that so?" Rico asked. "I'm still not set up for anymore students, and if Sensei Uzuki is going to be sending me anyone, I hope he warns me." He let out a sigh. "I hate teaching classes." Rico muttered to himself, then looked at Harry again. "Alright, arms out to your sides. I wanna measure you up."

Confused, but nodding, Harry held his arms away from him. Rico walked around him. "Still kinda skinny." He grabbed Harry's arm, feeling the muscles. "Not very tight muscles either. You work out any, Harry?"

"Kinda. I do exercises and stuff like that, and I got to run a bit at school. And before I went to school, Dudley and I beat up his old punching bag a lot." Harry answered.

"No weights or anything like that, then?"

"No sir." Harry answered again.

Rico snorted. "It's Rico. No Mr., no sir, no Sensei. Guess Dudley didn't tell you about that?" Harry shook his head. "Doesn't really matter. But as I was saying, you need to work out a little more, use some weights to strengthen your muscles."

Harry nodded. "Yes sir."

"No calling me sir, remember?" Rico walked out of the house and back to his car. "Well? Come on, you two. While you train, Dudley, I can at least start Harry here on some weights."

-0-

Rico started Dudley on a form that looked to use a lot of powerful hits, before allowing him to continue on, and then turned to Harry.

He looked at Harry. "Now, I can sense that you've got quite a bit of Chi, Harry. What happens if you use up your entire Chi reserve before you're finished in a fight? You have to fall back on your body, and if you don't have any strength in your body, you're going to be overwhelmed easily." Rico paused, and then continued on. "Not to mention, you don't have to put as much power behind your hits if you have more muscle."

He motioned to his punching bag. "Do me a favor, hit the bag as hard as you can, no Chi. You know how to lock your wrist so you don't hurt yourself, right?"

Harry nodded, and then took a stand in front of the bag. Centering himself, he took a deep breath, and moved into a stance. Carefully keeping himself from dipping into his well of Chi, he punched out at the bag, yelling out, "Kyaa!" as he did, the breath expelling from him and adding to the hit.

The bag shook slightly, but didn't move very much at all, in Harry's opinion.

"See? I've got the bag tied down tightly top and bottom as well, to keep it from swinging out when I'm working on it. Now, hit it as hard as you can, using your Chi as well." Rico took a step back, motioning to the bag once again.

Harry again dropped back into the stance, slipping deep into the Void in his mind. _Normally I don't get as much time to prepare myself. And it's only a single hit, not a form that Professor Maison is making me work through with my Chi._ He channeled his Chi through his arm, pooling it in his fist. Slowly he worked it up, hardening it as much as he possibly could, taking his time to make sure the solidified Chi was as strong as it could be. He then pushed even more of his Chi into his fist, until he could feel the buildup actually making his hand tingle.

He opened his eyes again, and focused on the bag, missing the surprised stare from his cousin and the interested look from Rico. All that existed now was Harry and the bag. While Rico may have insinuated that the bag was an immovable object, Harry was going to test if his fist was the irresistible force. Centering himself again, he watched the bag. It wasn't moving anymore. Punching out, he used another of Maison's lessons. Once his fist touched the bag, he let go of the hold on his Chi and pushed with it, adding the Chi's impact into the hit.

There was a creak and then a sudden snapping of wood, as the bottom of the bag lifted and swung up, the chain flailing loosely still attached to a piece of the floorboard. Harry quickly jumped back as the bag came back on the downswing. Rico's hand shot out, grabbing the swinging metal and wood, and stopped the bag.

"Not bad. Guess I'll have to anchor the bag to the foundation of the house. Didn't think I'd actually need to." Rico grinned at Harry. "I don't normally try to destroy it, so I don't break it."

Harry flushed. "I'm sorry, Rico."

"Nah, that's alright. I would have done it too if I'd been mad or something while hitting it. And I did tell you to hit it as hard as you could." Rico looked closer at him. "How much of your Chi did you use on that hit, anyways?"

Closing his eyes again, Harry mentally assessed how much Chi he could feel in his well. He opened his eyes after a moment and answered. "I think I could do eight or nine more hits like that before I'd get too tired to do it again."

Rico laughed, but it sounded slightly forced. "I still want you to work on the weights though. If nothing else, then to help to explain to someone exactly how you're hitting as hard as you are. Just remember, it took you about thirty seconds to build up that much Chi for a hit like that. In a real fight, your opponent wouldn't allow you that time."

Harry nodded. "Okay." He looked at the weight set in the room. "Which ones do you want me to work with?"

"The small ones." He picked up a five-pound dumbbell. "Curl them like this. Twenty times with each arm. Then wait ten minutes and do it again. No more than three rounds though, or you'll hurt your muscles. No using Chi either, ok?"

Harry grabbed two of them and nodded.

Rico walked over to Dudley and starting working him through a different form. After getting him going, he looked at the two of them. "I'm going to call your Sensei, make sure he's not going to drop anymore students off on me as a surprise. I'll be back in a few minutes, k?"

Both boys agreed, then went back to what they were doing. Rico walked into another room, and the boys didn't hear anything.

-0-

"Alright you two, I'll see you again next weekend." Rico bid them goodbye at the Dursley house. "Uzuki did tell me to tell you that he's holding class tomorrow as well. He said it's a lesson that everyone's going to learn before he has to leave. From what he was saying, I think he's going to have everyone able to see Chi before he does leave."

Both Harry and Dudley smiled widely at that. "Yes, finally!" Dudley yelled.

Rico laughed. "Enjoy. Have a good time you two." He then started his car back up and drove off.

Both boys walked into the house, barely able to keep themselves from bouncing about the news.

When they got in, they heard Petunia's voice from the kitchen. "Hello you two, go wash up for dinner, it's almost ready."

During dinner, she also mentioned that Uzuki had called her. "He said he was changing up the class some, pulling together all the students he wanted to make sure had learned something. I guess he wants to make sure you two learn it as well. He rescheduled your classes for Sunday and Wednesday."

"We found out from Rico, Aunt Petunia. He called Sensei Uzuki to find out if he was going to have any more students next year than just me and Dudley."

Vernon made a strange noise. "Be nice if it wasn't a big class. That way he can pay more attention to you Dudders." Vernon continued reading through the evening paper. "By the way, what else would you like for your birthday? I still have a few days to pick you up anything else you want."

Dudley looked at Harry, shrugging. "No thanks Dad."

Once they finished with the meal, Dudley quickly stood up. "Come on Harry, let's go play on my Playstation."

They both darted out of the kitchen before Petunia could ask either one of them to help with the dishes.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The boys sat quietly the next day at _The Dojo_, looking around at their new class. It had everyone from their class that had joined after them, plus several other people they didn't know.

Uzuki walked out of his office and looked at the group. "OK. What we're going to be learning, and probably learning for the next few months, is going to be how to see someone's Chi aura. You all know how to sense it, but if you can see the aura you are better equipped to be know what they are going to do with it. As these classes are going to be dedicated to allowing everyone to learn this, I expect you all to keep up with your regular skills outside of class. If you need some time here, talk to me later."

The class was quiet, waiting on his next words.

"Alright class, everyone sit and find the Void."

Harry sat, closing his eyes and allowing his mind to blank so the Void would come up quickly. He then opened his eyes, holding onto the Void and waiting for the next command.

Uzuki waited a few moments, nodding occasionally as each student entered his or her own Void. After an indeterminate time, he spoke again. "Next, I want each of you to close your eyes and bring up an image of your own face."

Closing his eyes again, Harry thought of his own face, like he was looking into a mirror.

"Open the eyes on your image, please, students."

A few soft laughs and embarrassed chuckles were heard around the room and Harry had to grin himself. The image in the Void opened its eyes for Harry.

"Now, study those eyes. Know your own eyes. I want you to be able to tell me exactly what shade of blue, green, or brown your eyes are. You will need to know how your eyes relate to the rest of your face, and to the rest of your head. If you haven't ever paid much attention to your eyes, I have several hand mirrors up front, so you can see them for yourself."

Several students made to get up and go grab a mirror, Harry saw.

"The mirror is a crutch though. I want you to be able to see yourself in the Void as well or better than you can a mirror. For the first two hours today, the mirrors will be here. After that, I take them." Uzuki cautioned the class.

Nodding to himself, Harry just closed his eyes again. Before doing so, he did see Dudley stand up to get one. _I don't think I'll ever forget what I saw in the Mirror of Erised. Even my own reflection in it._ Recalling what he'd seen at Christmas last year and then later when he found Sensei's stone, in his mind and in the Void he walked up closer to his reflection.

Gradually, as he studied himself, everything else about the memory fell away. He was left with just the reflection of himself, then only of his head. He stared into his own green eyes. The brilliant green eyes he had apparently inherited from his mother. He looked closer, _Or did my reflection's head get bigger, _and noticed that the green seemed to almost darken, fading into the black of his pupil.

A rumble seemed to go through the Void, catching Harry unaware and he fell out of the Void, opening his eyes. The rumble happened again, and he realized it was his stomach. Harry frowned. _We had breakfast right before we came, there's no way I could be hungry already. It's only…_ Harry looked at his watch, shocked. It was past noon already.

He stood up, muscles stiff from sitting so long groaning at the new movements. Everyone else was already at a table Sensei had apparently set up, with sandwiches and drinks.

Dudley saw him first, and laughed. "About time for you to wake up, sleeping ugly."

Harry shook his head and immediately winced when his neck popped. "I wasn't sleeping. I was studying my eyes. How in the world did four hours pass?"

Uzuki overheard him and spoke up, "You went fairly deep into the Void, didn't you, Harry?"

Harry confirmed he did as he grabbed a sandwich.

"That's why, then. When you go that far in, time seems to move a bit differently, at least it does for me. How'd it go looking at your own eyes?"

Shrugging, Harry took a bite of his sandwich. After swallowing, he answered. "Not sure, Sensei. How well do we have to know our eyes?"

"Very, very well. To change what you see, you need to know your own eyes. They say that the eyes are the window to your Soul, so I would like everyone to know how their Soul looks through that window. I will not teach anyone how to change their sight, unless they are certain they could change their sight back. It is possible to go mad constantly seeing the auras of everyone. Even people that do not practice and learn to use their Chi have a slight amount. Could any of you stand to see a flicker of energy around every living thing from now until the day that you die if you can't turn your sight back to normal?" Uzuki's quiet voice asked of the whole group.

A student down the table spoke up. "I think I know my eyes well enough that I could stop seeing the auras."

Everyone turned to him. Uzuki regarded him carefully, and seemed to be thinking.

"So, you could spend the next five minutes, detailing to me how your eyes look, how they see? And not repeat yourself once? Because that is what is required before I will take anyone to the next step, Chad."

His voice had changed, from a normal tone to that of Sensei Uzuki, the teacher that would not accept less than perfection from anyone. Harry knew that he was being deadly serious then, as he'd only heard him talk like that to one student who'd tried to challenge him. The student had backed down almost immediately.

Chad shrugged. "They're my eyes, what else do you want to know? Brown, slightly lighter than chocolate. Light enters the pupil, hitting cones in the back and sending signals to my brain that are upside down. My brain flips it around, and that is what I see."

Uzuki nodded absently. "The technical definition, as I expected from at least one person before this day was over. That is not enough, Chad. That was less than thirty seconds, not five minutes. And what I will teach you will still follow those basic precepts, so how would you know what to change so that you could stop seeing auras? Just reversing the steps to see auras will not be enough, as there is a fundamental change you will have to learn so to move back and forth between the two. Until you can find out for yourself what that fundamental part is in your normal vision, I dare not teach you how to change it to see auras, or you would not be able to change it back." Their Sensei calmly explained.

Chad snorted. "Why can't you just teach us what that fundamental part is then? And why haven't scientists figured out what it is, either?"

"And scientists know all about Chi as well, correct? And the power it produces? There are things that science cannot figure out, as it is not a science. They may have seen it before, but as it is different in each person, it would be written off because it cannot be identified as the same in each human."

Chad just sat there, thinking it over. He then nodded.

"Point, set, and match to Sensei Uzuki." Another student laughed.

"Did you expect anything less?" A third asked.

"Science has a very limited place in this class. Do not think that it will help anyone. You've heard what I told Chad; that goes the same for each of you. If you can find the fundamental part of your sight, it will be harder to not take ten or fifteen minutes describing it to me." Uzuki looked at the scraps left on the table. "Back to the mats and to your eyes please. And I do not expect any of you to find this today."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Both boys were slumped in the backseat of Vernon's car, completely exhausted.

Vernon looked at the two of them and frowned. "You've been nearly falling asleep every evening I've picked you up from _The Dojo_ for the past month. Dudley, you nearly fell asleep in your birthday cake the day after that first class when your schedule changed. Once or twice I might understand, but he isn't working you too hard, is he?"

Harry yawned and laughed slightly to himself, allowing Dudley to answer his dad.

Shaking his head in the negative, Dudley answered while stifling a yawn of his own. "No Dad. Actually, we're not doing anything really physical. It's a new technique, and the practice Sensei Uzuki is making us go through to start to learn it takes a lot out of us."

Vernon nodded, slightly relieved. "If you say so Dudders." He then turned a look at Harry. "We're having a discussion when we get home, boy."

Harry nodded, quietly wondering and going back over the previous few days to see if he'd done anything that might have made Uncle Vernon mad. _Nothing I can think of off hand._

-0-

"Alright, I've got a very important client coming over in two days for dinner. I don't want anything to go wrong, so I'd prefer it if you didn't even show your face to them, except for the actual dinner. Is that understood?" Vernon's voice was in earnest.

Harry nodded quickly, thankful he wasn't actually in trouble for something. "Yes sir, Uncle. I can stay up in my room while they're here, is that ok?"

"Good enough." Vernon stood up from the table and walked away. Before he got out of the kitchen, he turned around. "You can go outside as well, if you're quiet and there's no 'funny business,' understand?"

Realizing his uncle was talking about using magic, Harry quickly agreed. "Yes sir. Maybe practice some forms, or I could do some summer homework from my school. Could I do my homework that day?"

"Just… Just…" Vernon was almost fighting with himself on answering the question. "Just no funny things happening. And I mean none at all. Even anything you or Dudley have learned from your Sensei. I don't want them to react badly to anything; this is worth a lot to the company. Don't wreck it for me."

Harry agreed again, mystified by the almost nice tone his Uncle Vernon was asking in. _It's not like I can use magic outside school, and all I have to do is warn Dudley we can't use Chi while Uncle Vernon's guests are here._

As Vernon walked away, another thought popped into Harry's mind. _Hey, it'll be my birthday._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry had spent the day of his birthday in peace and solitude, working on his summer homework from Hogwarts. Both Dudley and Aunt Petunia had already said Happy Birthday to him and he wasn't holding out on getting one from Uncle Vernon. A day where he wouldn't be bothered about doing his homework would work well enough as a present from him. And Uncle Vernon's dinner guests had already been at the house for the past thirty minutes, so there was no way he was going to ruin anything for his Uncle. Not if it meant he actually got to have a nice, quiet day.

There was an almost inaudible pop behind Harry, then a small, squeaking voice piped up. "Harry Potter Sir!"

Startled, Harry jumped off the bed and spun around, falling into a fighting stance before noticing the small creature dressed in a dirty towel. "Wha?" was his only response.

"Harry Potter Sir! Dobby is glad to be meeting such a great wizard!" The little creature exclaimed.

Harry blinked, and then shook his head. "Dobby?"

"Yes sir, Harry Potter sir?"

"What are you, and what are you doing here?" Harry slowly calmed his raging nerves and dropped his fighting stance.

"Dobby is a house-elf, Harry Potter sir. And Dobby has come to warn Harry Potter. Harry Potter must not go to Hogwarts, for Harry Potter is in great danger if he does!"

The little house-elf suddenly looked fearful. "Bad Dobby!" He cried, and grabbing the nearest bedpost proceeded to bang his head against it.

"Hold on! Why are you bad?" Harry grabbed the elf, keeping him from banging his head anymore.

"Dobby is not supposed to be here. Dobby did not ask permission from his Master. Bad Dobby! Dobby will have to punish himself many times to make up for this, but Dobby could not let great wizard Harry Potter go into danger."

The house-elf made to start hitting its head again, so Harry pulled him away from the bed.

"You say I'm going to be in a lot of danger if I go to school this year?" Harry asked.

"Yes sir. Harry Potter must not go to Hogwarts this year. Bad things are going to happen." Dobby repeated, looking for a moment at the bedpost.

"No punishing yourself here, alright?" Harry quickly said, to which Dobby nodded fearfully. "And I'm going to Hogwarts, Dobby. It's my school, and I want to go."

Dobby shook his head. "No, no, no. Harry Potter sir mustn't go. Ohh, Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter sir."

"What for?" Harry asked carefully.

"Dobby must not let Harry Potter sir go. Dobby is sorry he is getting Harry Potter sir in trouble." With that, Dobby vanished.

_In trouble? How would a house-elf get me in trouble? Oh no… Uncle Vernon's dinner guests!_ Harry quickly threw open his door and ran downstairs, hearing Dudley's Playstation from his room. He passed by the living room after a quick glance to see Dobby wasn't in there. Hearing something from the kitchen and seeing both his aunt and uncle with the guests, Harry quickly ran down the hallway into the kitchen.

He found the small creature standing on the kitchen table, with his aunt's pudding floating between the two of them.

"Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter sir." With that, the elf disappeared again, and the pudding dropped from the air.

_Crap!_ Unthinking, Harry pushed out with his own magic as quickly as he could. "Keep floating!" He said, holding his voice down as best he could.

The pudding shook, and stabilized in the air. Quickly feeling the drain on his magic to keep it up in the air, Harry grabbed the bowl and set it down on the counter, just as his aunt walked in.

"You'll have to wait until after dinner for the dessert, Harry. You know that." She lightly scolded him.

Harry grinned weakly. "It just looked so good though, Aunt Petunia. Can't I have a little?"

"No. Now put it back in the fridge."

Harry shrugged, and did as he was told. Once the pudding was put up and safe, he turned back to his aunt. "I'm going back up to my room, ok?"

"That's fine. I'll call you for supper here shortly." She smiled at him, and then made a shooing motion. "You haven't finished your homework yet?"

Harry shook his head, and quickly left to go finish.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

**Department of Improper Use of Magic, same time.**

Malfalda Hopkirk was on the late shift tonight, _again_, when a piece of paper appeared in her inbox. Frowning, she unfolded it and read its contents.

_Unknown magical signature recorded in Little Whinging, Surrey twice in rapid succession. Hover Charm both times. Location appears to be Privet Drive, no closer estimation can be determined._

Grabbing a quill, she added, '_Pull records of witches and wizards living in area' _ underneath it, and dropped it into outbox, where the paper folded itself into an airplane and took off.

Moments later, the airplane returned. She unfolded it, reading the lines.

_One. Student: Potter, Harry. Wand signature on record does not match signature used. Two new families have moved into area, within three blocks of Privet drive. Accidental magic?_

Sighing, she scribbled an affirmative on the paper, dropping it into her outbox one last time, watching the plane take off. "What a boring job." She whispered to the empty room.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was later that evening when Harry heard a tapping on the glass of his window. Startled again, and very wary this time, he looked up at it to see a very old owl standing on the windowsill. Quickly opening it, the owl fluttered in before landing on his bed. Though crash landing might have been a more descriptive term for it.

Picking the owl up, Harry set it next to his own Hedwig, where it promptly seemed to fall asleep. Quietly untying the rather large note, he laughed to himself seeing Ron's hurried handwriting. Pushing aside the last remnants of his summer homework, he opened it up and read,

_Hey mate,_

_Haven't heard from you all summer. Guess you got caught up with the stuff with your Sensei. Anyways, Happy Birthday. Dad said it was ok for you to come visit with us for the rest of the summer. What do ya think? We can at least play some Quidditch. You've gotta be bored stiff there with only your martial arts. You can't do that forever, can you? Come on, it's only another month. Anyways, write back. Errol (that's our owl) probably won't be able to leave until he's had a good rest. Send your reply with him, or with Hedwig._

_Ron._

Harry thought about it for a moment. "Haven't even gotten that fundamental part of my sight, so who knows how long that'll take. Maybe Professor Maison can finish teaching me at Hogwarts. If Uncle Vernon will let me go, sure."

Grinning to himself, he made sure there was enough water for both owls before clearing his bed off. "I'll ask them both in the morning."

* * *

At 5,300 words and several months in the works, it's finally done. Sorry about the long long long long long wait people. I can't promise not to do it again, but I'll try my best to not do it anymore, deal?

Thanks for hanging in there with me for so long. As always, read and review.


	4. 3: To go to the Burrow

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: After having traded my sanity and my very mind, I now own… Dang nabbit, what was it I was supposed to own? sigh

Chapter 3: To go to the Burrow

* * *

The morning started out well. Harry woke up to see the Weasley's owl looking refreshed enough that it was standing on the windowsill, waiting to be let out.

"Guess you're ready to go, huh? Alright, I'll send Hedwig with my answer today if I have it." Harry said after opening the window and standing back.

Errol hooted tiredly and flew out the window. Harry watched him fly off into the distance with some concern, and then turned back to look at Hedwig. "Think he'll make it back, girl?"

Hedwig hooted noncommittally.

"Gotcha." Harry laughed, and made sure the window was open wide enough before addressing his owl again. "Have a good hunt for breakfast. Just don't let Uncle Vernon see you when you come back, alright? Be back by this evening; I might have a letter for you to take."

The snowy white owl hooted once again, and then flew out the window.

Grinning to himself, Harry went into the upstairs bathroom to take care of morning duties before heading down to breakfast. Sitting down at his usual place, he ventured out his first question, to test his Uncle's mood. "Did your dinner guests have a good time last night, uncle?"

Vernon put down his paper and looked at Harry suspiciously. "They did, actually. Why would you want to know?"

"Well, I got a letter last night from my friend, asking if I could come spend the rest of the summer with his family. Since I've been good and not caused any problems, do you think that would be ok?"

Before Vernon could answer, Petunia did so for him. "I don't see why not, Harry. Are you sure you won't be missing anything in your class at _The Dojo_?"

"I was going to ask Sensei as well. My teacher at school can probably make sure I keep up with it though, and I really do want to visit my friend." Harry answered.

"Whatever." Vernon said. "I don't care." He picked the paper back up. "It'll just be an extra month I don't have to put up with you, anyways."

Petunia frowned, then shook her head and sighed, finishing setting down the morning meal before the family and then sitting down herself.

Dudley gave his father a weary look as well, before turning back to Harry. "Write me this year, at least, would ya? If you're going to get into as much trouble as you did last year, I want to hear all about it."

Harry grinned before starting into his breakfast.

-0-

"Really?"

Harry nodded. "Yes sir, Sensei. My friend Ron said it was ok with his family for me to come and stay with them."

Uzuki looked thoughtful. "Do I have your promise that you will continue to try to find what makes your sight unique to you?"

"Yes, Sensei. I really want to learn how to see Chi."

"Then I have no problems with it. Maison should be able to take you through it, once you have figured out the base steps on your own." Uzuki crouched down and looked Harry in the eyes. "Although, do be careful in that castle. What found its way inside once, might be able to do so again, understood?"

Harry nodded, thinking of Voldemort. "Yes sir."

Uzuki stood up, and then turned Harry around. "Good. Now, join your classmates. If this is your last lesson from me, I would like to see some improvement." Giving him a slight push, Harry quickly moved to join his cousin and the other students.

-0-

_Hey Ron,_

_I got permission to stay, so whenever your Dad wants to pick me up is fine. How is he going to get here anyway?_

_See ya soon,_

_Harry_

Harry folded up the quickly written note, tying it to Hedwig's leg before opening the window and turning to look at her. "Alright girl, take that to Ron Weasley."

Hooting, Hedwig took off into the night sky.

Harry laid back on his bed, wondering how Mr. Weasley would arrive. _Broomstick? Nah, too easy to spot. I don't think he'd want everyone in the area to see him. Ummm… I doubt he'd walk, but we never did learn any other ways of traveling._

Shrugging, Harry turned over, settling in for the night, still wondering about how Ron's dad would be showing up. He'd ask them about it when he saw Hermione or Ron again.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The next day Harry spent in the backyard, sparring with Dudley. At the moment, it wasn't quite as much fun as it usually was, since he was, at the moment, tasting the grass.

Grinning slightly to himself, he rolled over and stood up, looking at Dudley, who stared back at him with a very large grin on his face.

"Point in my favor, you think?"

"Yeah, yeah. If we keep count, that'll leave you what, about three hundred thousand points behind me?" Harry laughed at the way Dudley's smiled dropped.

"Chi or no Chi?" Dudley's question came with another easy grin.

Shrugging, Harry thought for a moment. "Your call. Although, I think you get more points when we don't use Chi."

"Chi it is then." Dudley's voice had a light laugh in it though as he said this.

Without waiting for a response, Dudley rushed his cousin, throwing a quick punch at his face. Harry ducked under the fist, and then stood again, his arm going up to push Dudley's arm away, spinning the other boy around slightly.

With his arm knocked off course, Dudley turned the spin into a kick as Harry jumped back, dodging the blow. Switching to a more aggressive stance himself, Harry pushed forward towards Dudley, with a fist leading. Dudley made to block the punch, only to receive a moderately strong hit on his blocking arm from Harry's other fist, which had followed.

Dropping back a moment and wincing as he felt his arm, Dudley shook it off and fell back into a stance Harry didn't recognize.

"Who'd you learn that one from?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Rico." Was Dudley's reply.

Harry nodded, wary of any new attack that Dudley might launch. He'd let his cousin start off, and then counterattack him.

_Give me just a few seconds Harry, that's all I ask._ Dudley reached deep into himself, letting the Void fall naturally over him as he let his own Chi flow. Guiding it down his muscles, he covered it again with a second channeling of his Chi. Carefully keeping part his concentration on the already used Chi, not allowing it to fade, Dudley channeled his Chi once more.

Harry nodded, sensing Dudley's use of Chi. It had that same doubled feel as when Rico and Dudley were practicing. Then Harry felt a shock. Dudley channeled more of his Chi, stretching it through his other arm. And then the doubled sensation seemed to flow into that arm as well. _Crap. I didn't think he'd be able to do it with both hands at once. Now that's good._ "Neat." Was his only comment.

Dudley looked at Harry as he floated in the Void, most of his concentration on holding his Chi steady as it pooled in both of his fists. He didn't spare the effort it would take to reply, just set himself ready to attack. He'd give his cousin a minute to bring his own Chi into play. He didn't want to break any of Harry's bones.

Harry saw Dudley set himself, and nodded again. "Let's play then." He grinned widely at his cousin, before allowing the quiet of his own Void to surround him. Drawing deeply on his well of Chi, Harry channeled it into his own fists and started the process of hardening it into the Iron Fist technique he'd been taught.

Dudley, sensing his cousin's own use of Chi, moved forward.

Harry watched his cousin closely, as he worked as quickly as he could to harden his own Chi in both of his hands. He watched as Dudley punched at him. The punch seemed to be coming in slow motion, and Harry raised his hands in a cross guard to block the attack, his own Chi still not completely set.

The punch landed and Harry could feel the Chi in his first arm fail as Dudley's hit was too strong to completely absorb the impact. The Chi in his other arm was still surrounding both his arms though, and managed to hold on through the rest of the punch. The strength of the impact still pushed Harry back a bit and he stumbled slightly as he moved backwards, not set for that amount of a push against him.

"Damn, you ok, Harry?" Dudley's voice was quiet, showing that he was a little disturbed by what happened. He backed up slightly. He'd used up all of the Chi he'd channeled into one arm, but he still held enough concentration to hold it in his other arm.

"Minus a hell of a stinging in my arms, fine." Harry rubbed his forearms where he had caught the blow. "Hell of a punch, though." He looked down at the ground to see what he'd stumbled on. Then blinked. "What in the world?"

Dudley looked at the ground, puzzled. "What?"

Harry pointed to where his foot had been before he'd stumbled. "I think I actually dug into the ground when I blocked that. Then lost my balance."

"COOL!" Dudley grinned. "Wanna do it again?"

Harry looked at the furrow dug into the ground, then back at his cousin. "Sure, why not? Just let me get set completely this time. I almost didn't have enough time last time."

Dudley nodded. "Fine by me."

Calmly, Harry channeled his Chi into his arms again, letting the life energy pool into his hands before he formed it into the Iron Fist again. Then he allowed as much of his Chi as he could, flow into the spaces left behind by the more solid Chi. After opening eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed, he looked at his cousin.

"That again, huh?" Dudley had finished channeling his own Chi into his arms and fist as he'd been taught and was now waiting on Harry to finish.

"Yeah." Harry grinned. "But I'm not done yet." Closing his eyes again, Harry smirked inside of the Void. Draining even more of his Chi, he again channeled it into his arms, and very slowly he built the Iron Fist down his arm until the almost completely solid Chi stretched to near his elbows. Adding a bit more Chi into it was a challenge, but easy compared to the concentration required to hold the technique together over the distance of his forearms.

Opening his eyes, he failed to notice the slight silver flicker of energy surrounding his arms, lost in the bright sunlight as it had been.

Dudley however, was amazed at the amount of Chi his cousin had managed to channel into his arm. "What did you just do, Harry?"

"Stretched out the Iron Fist into something to protect my arms as well… I think." Was the answer Harry gave as he bent his wrists, noting that the Chi wasn't holding his wrists in a locked position. "Wasn't sure if it would work, but I think I used up about half my Chi to do this."

Nodding quietly at that, Dudley spoke again. "Ready then?"

Harry smiled. "Always, Dudley. Let's play." He set himself into a defensive position, one that would allow him to maintain his balance in case Dudley's punches pushed him back again.

Dudley moved forward, forgoing any real martial arts move, instead throwing a haymaker at Harry's head. He knew his cousin would be able to either dodge or block the slow, but powerful swing.

Harry didn't disappoint him, and met the punch with a block of his own. The fully ready Chi technique of Harry's met Dudley's fist.

Dudley, knowing that a simple punch probably wouldn't even faze Harry, let go of the hold on his Chi, instead pushing it at Harry and adding the power of it to his attack. All the energy he'd stored into his fist for that attack quickly fled in a forward motion, ramming into Harry's blocking arm.

Harry felt the Chi from Dudley push forward, attacking his own Chi, which strengthened his arm and kept it safe from the attack. He felt the energy in his arms waver and begin to release, so he quickly let the extra energy still held in his own fist from the first time he'd used his Chi to flow into the cracks created by Dudley's attack.

The Chi from Dudley's punch left as soon as it had begun, leaving Harry with half the energy in one arm that he'd started with, and all the Chi in his other arm and fist. Harry could sense that Dudley still had enough of the doubled Chi still tightly channeled into his own fist for another attack.

Both boys grinned and looked down to where Harry had blocked. This time, there seemed to be a two, maybe three inch long furrow from where Harry had been pushed back.

"Not hurt, are ya Harry?" Dudley asked.

Harry shook his head. "Nope. Not at all this time."

"Good. Ready for one more? I think I'm done after that." At Harry's nod, he slipped back into a fighting stance, closer to Harry this time than before his first attack.

Harry grinned, setting himself in a new position, ready to block another of Dudley's moves and see if they could make an even bigger trench in the ground. "Ready here."

Dudley set himself. Harry's eyes widened as he felt the Chi channeled into Dudley's fist disappear, only to appear again. The location felt slightly different, and then Harry gasped. He felt a third layer of Chi wrap the first two layers as Dudley turned.

_Crap! That's why the place felt different._ Harry thought as Dudley spun around, his leg coming around in a backwards roundhouse kick that started low and promised a very painful hit in his stomach if he didn't block it. Moving his arm into a low block, Dudley's foot connected with Harry's arm as Dudley released all of the Chi he'd built up.

Harry released all of his Chi as well, focusing on the point of connection between his block and Dudley's attack. The extra Chi Dudley had managed to put into the kick meant Harry didn't have enough Chi built up to block the attack. And while Dudley may have had a decently strong base to support his kick with, the angle of the kick meant that there was nothing for Harry to plant himself against.

Dudley's foot was knocked back and he fell face first into the ground. Therefore, he didn't see his cousin actually lift off the ground and fly backwards. He also didn't hear the almost inaudible pop or see the man appear in the backyard, directly in Harry's flight path.

He did, however, manage to look up in time to see Harry collide with him and the two go down in a tangle of limbs and, in Harry's case, laughter.

Dudley quickly stood up and went the few feet that Harry had been airborne to check on him and the strange man that seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere.

"You ok?" He asked.

Harry was still laughing slightly as he stood up, getting off of the other man's back. Nodding to Dudley, he turned around to look at the unknown person. _Red hair, came out of nowhere, I wonder…_ "Mr. Weasley?" Harry offered his hand to help him get up.

The older man groaned, taking the offered hand, and slowly stood up as well. "Now that I wasn't expecting," he chuckled, before turning around. "I come to pick you up to go to the Burrow and end up needing a hand myself." He looked around the backyard, apparently trying to see what had thrown the young boy at him. "You weren't using magic, were you, Harry? You know that's not allowed outside of school."

"No sir. We were just practicing martial arts and Dudley managed to hit me just right, throwing me into the air. I guess you just appeared where I was going to land." Harry shrugged. "Bad timing on our part, I guess."

Mr. Weasley shook his head. "No, Harry, all my fault. But not a problem. Shall we grab your things and go, then?"

"Sure. How are we going to go though?" Harry asked, still wondering. _Maybe we'll just appear there, like he did here._ He and Dudley escorted Mr. Weasley into the house, through the kitchen.

"I'll bring you back to the Burrow with me using Side-Along Apparition." He paused and looked around once they were inside the house, a slight gleam appearing in his eyes. "Oh my, I don't think I've ever been into a Muggle's home before. Not when I didn't have to fix some cursed item, mind you. Do you think you could explain some of the things to me, boys?"

Dudley shrugged. "Sure, what do you want to know about?"

Mr. Weasley looked around the kitchen, taking in the various appliances. "Umm, where to start." He paused in his looking around the room, and then pointed at a small metal box with slits in the top that caught his eye. "What is that, and what does it do?"

Dudley looked at him oddly. "Uh, that's a toaster. It turns bread into toast."

"Ingenious the way Muggles manage to do things without magic." Mr. Weasley said gleefully.

"I'll thank you to not use that word in my house." A voice came from the hallway. The three turned around, to find Harry's uncle standing outside the doorway staring at them.

Harry and Dudley could see the tic starting in Vernon's left eye, the signal to them that he was quickly starting to get angry.

"What word would that be?" Mr. Weasley thought over his previous sentence in his mind. "Muggle? I apologize, I didn't mean anything by it, it's just the term we use for non-magical people."

"Normal people you mean. And don't use that word. There will be no speaking of, or using," Vernon seemed to struggle with the next word, "m- _magic,_ in this household." Vernon turned to Harry. "I don't know how he got into the backyard instead of using the front door like normal people and I'd rather not know. Get your stuff and go, I'd rather have him out of my house as quickly as possible."

Nodding to his uncle, Harry turned to Mr. Weasley. "Come on, we'll go up to my room."

Harry quickly led Mr. Weasley out of the kitchen, through the hallway and up the stairs. As Dudley went to follow them, his father grabbed his arm.

"If you go up there, stay well away from him. I don't want anything happening to you." His father warned him.

Dudley frowned. "They wouldn't do anything. Harry can do that stuff too, and he doesn't."

"The boy is mine and your mother's charge. He can't do anything to us or you because he wouldn't have a home if he did. I don't know about that other one, and I'd rather you stay completely out of his room until they're both gone."

Sighing, Dudley nodded. "Yes sir." He went up the stairs to watch Harry and this Mr. Weasley.

-0-

As Dudley watched from outside the room, Harry quickly packed up his belongings into his trunk. When he was done, Mr. Weasley tapped the trunk and said something the boys couldn't hear, and the trunk shrunk down to pocket size. Dudley grinned at this as Harry picked it up and put it in his pocket.

"Anything that didn't fit into your trunk?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Umm, Hedwig's cage. Did she stay at your house as well, Mr. Weasley?" Harry replied, after eyeing the rest of his room.

"Yes she did. Beautiful owl. Smart, too."

After putting the now shrunken owl cage into his other pocket, Harry looked around the room once more, then at Mr. Weasley. "That's it. Do we need to go into the backyard again?"

Arthur shook his head. "No, I can Apparate us from here." He put his hand onto Harry's shoulder. "Be still, it's a little rough on the passenger."

Dudley spoke up quickly before anything could happen. "Hey, Harry. Write me. Have Hedwig drop the letters off in that tree in the backyard. I'll leave mine there too, ok?"

Harry nodded, and then looked to Mr. Weasley. "I'm ready."

Mr. Weasley nodded, and closed his eyes in concentration.

Harry felt something wrap around him. Then something tugged at his magic. Before he could react, the tugging stopped and everything faded around them as he felt pulled into an impossibly small spot, which seemed to be trying to squeeze him into nothing. Gathering himself, Harry had just entered the Void and was ready to let lose with his Chi when the feeling faded, and Harry was standing on a walkway leading into a house.

"Welcome to the Burrow. Come on, Molly will probably have something for you to eat if you're hungry."

Numbly, Harry nodded, letting go of the Void. He didn't mention to Mr. Weasley exactly how close he'd been to trying to blow up whatever had been squeezing him. As he followed the red-haired man into the house and heard several of the Weasleys' voices, he looked back to the spot where they had appeared from. _I hate Side-Along Apparition.

* * *

_

Hooray, another chapter done. Anyways, if anyone's curious as to how Harry actually got airborne for several feet, please remember. They're both 12 years old. The energy they're working with can make their hits at least that of several times the strength of Joe Normal on the street. While they can keep from being hurt, if you put that much power behind a hit and a 110 pound kid doesn't have anything bracing him, he's going to move.

Anyways, Read and Review. That's an order:)


	5. 4: Frogs and Quidditch

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: authors pulls out a short list See here? This is all I own. No where on this list does it say anything about Harry Potter, Xenogears, or anything of those two universes. checks list again Dang it, they reclaimed my sanity again as well. grumbles

A/N: Just in case anyone is truly bored, I did create a forum for this series. Doubtful anyone cares, but eh. I'm willing to answer some questions on it.

Chapter 4: Frogs and Quidditch

* * *

After Mrs. Weasley welcomed him with his very first bone-crushing hug , Mr. Weasley led Harry upstairs.

"We've got an extra bed set up in Ron's room for you to sleep in." Mr. Weasley said as they walked up the cockeyed stairs. "Bathroom is down the hall, and Ron's room is on the right. Percy's is next to his, Fred and George share a room across from Percy. Ginny's room is across from Ron's."

Harry nodded, mentally attempting to keep track of which room was where. _Keep away from the twin's room, if it's anything like they are. Don't know Percy, but probably don't bother him either. Ron's room is my room._ "Ginny?" he asked, not placing the name.

"Our girl," Mr. Weasley explained. "She's starting Hogwarts this year. I'd suggest knocking before entering her room."

An image of the red-haired girl from the train station last year flashed through his mind. _Oh yeah._ "Got it."

Mr. Weasley opened one of the doors. "This is Ron's room."

Harry looked in, and was nearly blinded by the glaring neon orange that decorated the walls. Blinking several times, he stepped into the room.

Mr. Weasley laughed at his reaction. "Ron's a very big supporter of the Chudley Cannons, if he hasn't told you. The orange is their color." He pulled out his wand. "Now let's get your trunk and things set right shall we?"

Pulling his trunk and other shrunken things out of his pockets, Harry laid them out in a row. He quickly added the shrunken box that he had gotten from Uzuki on top of the trunk.

"Right then." Quickly tapping the few things that Harry had taken from the Dursleys', he noticed the carved box sitting on top of Harry now restored trunk. He peered at it for a moment. "I don't remember shrinking this."

Harry grabbed it. "It was given to me shrunk, so I hoped to get you to unshrink it for me."

Mr. Weasley nodded. "Ah, I see. Anyways, Ron and the others are outside. Why don't you go join them? Molly will have dinner ready in a couple of hours." He then left, leaving Harry looking at his now restored belongings.

Quickly opening up the box, he noticed that Ron's chocolate frog cards were still in good condition. The gem and crystals also hadn't suffered any damage either. Closing the box and allowing it to lock again, he placed it into his trunk, where he noticed that Hermione's book still was shrunk.

Pushing his trunk up against the spare bed, Harry walked out of the room. Across the hallway, he saw a face peering out from behind a door. Harry frowned, and the person squeaked and slammed the door shut.

_That was… Ginny?_ Stepping up to her door, Harry knocked. After a moment with no response, he knocked again and spoke. "Ginny? Umm, just saying hi, since I'm going to be here for the rest of the summer. You're not really going to hide behind a door all summer, are you? I'm not that scary, right?"

Still not receiving a response, Harry shrugged and turned around. After a few steps away from the door, he heard it open.

"Hi, Harry." A female voice said quietly.

Grinning, Harry turned around. "Hey, how are…" his voice trailed off once he had gotten a good look at Ginny. She was the perfect image of, "Elly?"

She shook her head. "You got it right the first time, I'm Ginny." Her voice was still quiet as she spoke.

Harry nodded. "Sorry about that then. Your dad said Ron and the others are outside. You going too?"

"No, they're playing Quidditch, and they won't let me use their brooms. Even though Charlie and Bill left their old brooms here." Now her voice had gotten to a normal level, discussing her brothers.

Harry shrugged, and then grabbed her arm. "Come on, I left my broom at the school, so we'll make them let us use the extras, ok?" He pulled her slightly towards the stairs.

Ginny squeaked again, but didn't resist as Harry pulled her down the stairs and into the den.

Harry stopped and looked around. "Uhh, which way?" He laughed to himself as he looked around. "Where are they at?"

Ginny smiled shyly and pointed. "Backdoor is that way. I'll show you."

"Lead the way then." Harry turned to follow her.

As they walked out towards the field that Ginny said her brothers were at, Harry asked a question that had been bugging him. "How do they play with just the four of them, anyway? Seven is the usual team, right?"

"Percy doesn't play that often, actually, so it's just the three of them. I guess it's more of just throwing the Quaffle through the goals." Ginny looked straight ahead as she answered, trying to not make any sort of eye contact with Harry.

Noticing, but not saying anything, Harry just continued on. The two of them walked in a semi-comfortable silence for a few more minutes until they reached the open field where both could see Ron, Fred, and George flying in the air.

It only took Ron a few moments to realize that Harry was there, and he quickly flew down to the ground.

"Hey mate, when'd you get here?" Ron shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Where's your broom, we could use a fourth."

"Just got here. And I don't have my broom, I left it at Hogwarts. I couldn't fit a Nimbus into my trunk." Harry shrugged. "Ginny said that you've got your brothers' old ones?"

Ron quickly nodded, eager to continue playing. "Yeah, I'll go grab one for you."

As Ron made to fly off, Harry called to him. "What, you're not going to ask Ginny if she wants to?"

Ron blinked then looked at his sister. "Sorry, Ginny, but I don't think we're really up to teaching you how to fly today."

She scowled at her brother, her timidity around Harry forgotten in the wake of her brother's comment. "I can too fly! It's just that you idiots never give me a chance to prove it."

"Aww, is ickle-Ginny trying to impress her crush? How sweet." One of the twins had flown down and heard Ginny's comment.

Ginny glared at her other brother as Harry thought he heard a low growl. "Alright, Fred. Just wait until I get my hands on a wand. You know what happened last time."

Fred looked at his sister nervously.

Harry laughed at Fred's plight. "Ron, just grab her a broom. If Ginny says she can fly, she can fly." _Besides, if she flies half as good as Elly did in that dream, she'd probably be able to fly circles around them._

"Fine, but if you fall out of the air, there's no one around here to catch you. And you get to explain to Mum why you got hurt." Ron grumbled, before flying off back towards the house.

Fred flew down the rest of the way, landing on the ground while George stayed in the air. "So, why didn't you bring your broom, Harry?"

"Like I told Ron, my Nimbus wouldn't fit into my trunk." Harry explained again.

"And that means what, exactly? You're on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. You're allowed to borrow one of the travel cases for the summer."

Harry looked confused. "Travel case?"

Shaking his head, Fred called his brother down, out of the air. "Hey, Fred, get down here."

Flying down, he looked at his brother. "Aren't you Fred? I thought I was George."

"Ah, yes. Sorry, Mum got me confused again. Anyways, no one told Harry-kins here he could use a travel case. So his Nimbus is still locked up in the changing room at Hogwarts."

"Actually, no one has even explained to me what a travel case is, either." Harry added.

"It's a five-inch long case that you can fit just about all of your broom into, except the bristles. There's a wizard's space t the bottom so that it doesn't mess up the broom. I know there was one in your locker; there's one for each Quidditch player." George explained.

Harry looked exasperated. "So, that's what that box was. No one bothered to tell me."

Before anyone else could say something, Ron walked back through the trees.

"It's bloody impossible to fly with three brooms, you know that? They all want to take off in different directions." Ron grumbled as he walked up to them. "Here ya go, Harry." Handing him one of the brooms, he turned to his sister. "And yours. Don't kill yourself, Mum would kill us."

Swinging a leg over his own broom, Ron quickly rose back into the air.

Harry turned to Ginny. "You ready to show them?"

Startled, Ginny looked at Harry. "Yeah," she said quietly.

"Come on then." Harry quickly got onto the broom and rose into the air, turning to watch Ginny.

She took a deep breath and took off, joining the others in the air.

Her takeoff was a little shaky, Harry noticed, but once she was in the air she seemed fine. Motioning to her, they both chased after the Quaffle.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

It was late in the evening, after dinner, that Harry finally had a chance to get Ron alone as they got ready for bed. Opening his trunk, he quickly slipped the cards out of the carved box, shutting it again. He turned to Ron.

"Hey, you remember the Philosopher's Stone that broke at the end of school?" Harry asked.

Ron nodded, thinking back just the few short months before. "Yeah. Why?"

Harry grinned. "It turns out my martial arts instructor wasn't a Muggle. He was Nicholas Flamel." _3, 2, 1_. Harry counted down in his mind.

"You have got to be bloody kidding me!" Ron's voice came out in a strangled whisper.

Harry shook his head. "Nope. And he gave me a reward for helping to keep Voldemort away from the stone."

Ron shuddered at the name, but quickly focused on the rest of the sentence. "Reward? What'd he give you?"

"I'll show you on the train when Hermione's there. But he also gave me rewards to give to you and Hermione, for your help. Here's what he wanted you to have." Harry handed over the two frog cards, covered in the protective plastic.

Ron looked at them. "Merlin…" He breathed. "He gave me two of his frog cards? One personally signed? I've never even heard of his card being in the whole collection."

"Yeah. He made the company recall them all a long time ago. Did you know there's a reward for returning one of his cards? That's why he gave you two of them. One for your collection and one for the reward."

Ron looked down at the cards in his hands again. "Reward?"

"Yeah, but I don't know who to owl to tell them you've got one. Do you know?" Harry asked.

"Chocolate Frog Publications." Ron said, distracted. "That's the owl address for anything to them."

Harry grinned, and then dug into his trunk coming up with a quill and a sheet of parchment. "Well? What are you waiting for? Write them a letter."

Ron looked at him quizzically. "Now?"

"When else? Come on." Harry handed Ron the quill.

Ron sat there for a moment, and then wrote. Afterwards, he looked at Harry. "This sound good?" he asked, handing the note over.

_To the reward department,_

_I've been told that there is a reward for recalled cards. I have one of Nicholas Flamel. That is one that has a reward, right? Is there something I have to do to claim the reward? I live in Ottery St. Catchpole, at the Burrow._

_Ron Weasley_

Harry looked it over. "Good enough, I guess. Wanna send it with Hedwig?"

"Sure, thanks." Ron folded up the letter, and then wrote, _Chocolate Frog Publications_ on the outside of it.

Harry took the letter from Ron, and then looked to Hedwig. "Feel like doing a night delivery, girl?"

The owl hooted at him, and Harry tied the letter to her leg.

"Don't overexert yourself; you don't have to be back by morning." Harry warned his owl, as she fluttered to the windowsill.

With one last look and hoot, Hedwig took off into the night sky.

Harry turned back to Ron and said, "If they do come here, make sure they don't see the signed one."

Nodding, Ron yawned. "Right. I'm going to bed, see you in the morning, Harry."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Midmorning the next day, Hedwig came back without a return letter.

Ron shrugged it off, saying he didn't expect a reply anyways. "At least I've got two really rare cards then, right?"

Harry agreed, and both boys promptly forgot about it.

Harry then brought up practice. "You think I could find a place to practice around here?"

"Yeah. There's plenty of space around here in the back. You can help me with my fighting too, right?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded. "That's what I was thinking, actually. I don't know where else to go in my training without a teacher. I kind of left in the middle of a lesson with my Sensei, but it's not a fighting lesson. Let's go out back and start, ok?"

Ron nodded and led Harry outside, in a different direction than the Quidditch field was at. They didn't get far before finding a smaller clearing, still within eyesight of the house.

"This place is too small for any Quidditch, but should be good for us, right?"

Harry looked around at the small clearing. It wasn't even a quarter of the size of the clearing that they'd been playing Quidditch in, but was big enough to go through the forms in. "Looks good to me."

After stretching to warm up, Harry starting walking Ron through a few of the moves that he'd learned, building on what Ron had already learned. They'd been at it for less than a half hour when Ginny wandered in.

"Fred and George are making things explode again, and I'd really rather not be a test subject." She explained. "Do you mind if I hide out here from them?"

"Sure, go ahead." Harry said, turning back to Ron. "Your kick was a little low, you need to aim here." Harry held his hand up. "Kick my hand."

Ron nodded, snapping a front kick into Harry's hand.

Harry let his hand be pushed back, then set it again in the same position after Ron's foot moved. "Alright, do it again."

They worked for a few more minutes with Ginny watching in silence, before she spoke up. "Umm, do you think I could try to do that?" She asked hesitantly.

Ron scoffed. "Girls don't do this sort of thing. Just sit there and watch."

"Fine, it's not like it was very interesting anyways." Ginny huffed, and then stormed away from the two boys.

Harry looked at Ron, shaking his head. "Where in the world did you get the idea that girls don't do this? About a third of my class was girls, and there were a couple of them that could easily kick my butt."

"Well, Hermione didn't seem interested in it at all, except just watching, and well, I thought…" Ron trailed off.

Harry threw up his hands. "And since Hermione likes to research things in books, and you don't, that means only girls like to do that?" Ron made to answer, but Harry cut him off. "Don't answer that. You really need to say you're sorry to her."

"Nah, she'll get over it." Ron said dismissively.

Harry just stared at him. "Get over this then. Class cancelled." Harry walked away, leaving Ron standing alone.

She hadn't walked back towards the house, Harry noticed. Jogging through the trees, Harry heard her voice from up ahead.

"Stupid prat. What makes him think I wouldn't want to try?" She was saying to herself as Harry walked up behind her.

She was just sitting there, playing with a piece of grass.

Harry smiled, bemused. "Elly?"

She jumped, turning around as best she could from her position. "Hi Harry. It's Ginny, remember?" She looked down.

Shaking his head, Harry nodded. "Ginny, sorry. You ok?" He sat down across from her.

"Yeah, yeah. Ron's just being a great, ugly, prat again. You didn't have to come after me." Ginny twirled the grass in her fingers, watching it intently.

"I stopped the lesson. Ron didn't need to say those things, there's plenty of girls in my class back home."

Ginny looked up for a moment. "That's alright. I don't want to take up any of your time."

"You sure?" Harry asked. "It doesn't bother me."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Ginny whispered, looking down.

Harry stood up. "Well, I'm going back to the house. You coming?"

Ginny shook her head. "I'm gonna stay out here for a while. I still want to keep from being made into a test subject by Fred and George."

Nodding, Harry left her sitting there as he walked back to the Burrow. As he walked up to the house, he saw several owls fly into the open kitchen window. Curious, Harry went inside and into the kitchen, only to find Mrs. Weasley already there, untying several letters.

"Hello dear. It looks like your letters from Hogwarts have shown up." She shuffled through them, pulling one out. "Here's yours."

Opening it, Harry quickly read through it. Most of it was the same as last year, but with a few new additions to the book list. "Looks like I just need to get _Standard Book of Spells: Grade 2_ and _The Dark Arts: Defense and Retaliation_. Who's Malum M. Mentis?"

Mr. Weasley, who had also come in to see who all the owls were from, looked at Harry. "This year's defense book is by Mentis? Odd."

"Why's that?" Harry looked back at the book list.

"She was an odd witch, died about a hundred years ago. Great dueler, actually was a dueling champion for almost thirty years. If I remember right, that book doesn't actually have much about defense in it, more in the way of offense used as a defense."

"Well, at least we'll learn something this year in defense." Harry remarked.

"Too right. After the great stuttering turban man, anything would be better." A voice said.

Harry turned to see the twins coming into the kitchen, covered in soot or something else. Mrs. Weasley, seeing their state, quickly picked up her wand and pointed it at them.

"Cripes!" they both yelped as their mum said something, and they were completely cleaned up.

"Honestly, you two! Don't you have anything better to do than blow yourselves up?" Mrs. Weasley asked, exasperated.

Ignoring the question, they both immediately grabbed their letters. "Hey, we've got that Mentis book too."

Mr. Weasley thought for a moment. "Unless they printed a lot more copies because of the class, that book is kind of expensive."

"Well," Mrs. Weasley murmured, "We can get most of Ginny's books second hand, or she can use Ron's from last year." She opened up Ginny's letter next and read through it. "We'll go to Diagon Alley next week."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

It was two days later, right before dinner, when a knocking at the door surprised everyone.

"Who could that be?" Mrs. Weasley asked. She got up and answered the door. The kids all looked at each other, shrugging. Harry went back to losing his chess game against Ron, with Ginny watching.

A moment later, Mrs. Weasley escorted two men into the den. "Ron dear." She said all too calmly.

Hearing her tone, Ron nervously looked up. "Mum?"

"These gentlemen are here to see you, apparently. What did you do?" She asked, hands on her hips.

"Uhh, nothing that I know of." Ron quickly answered back.

"He's not in any trouble that we know of, Mrs. Weasley. At least not with us." One of them answered. "Actually, we're here because you wrote us a letter."

A light dawned in Ron's eyes. "You guys are from the Chocolate Frog company?" He asked excitedly.

"Yes we are." The second one said. "I'm Walter Chocola, and this is my partner, Nick Kikker. Would you be so kind as to get your frog card? There's different levels of rewards depending on how well treated the card has been."

Ron nodded rapidly. "Yeah, hold on just a moment." He dashed upstairs.

Mrs. Weasley looked back to the two men. "What letter? And what reward?"

Nick smiled at her. "A while back, one of the people that had a chocolate frog card made, approached us and asked us to pull them off the market. He also wanted the cards recalled. So we did, and there is a reward for anyone that still has one and is willing to turn it in."

"Oh… okay." Was the only reply she was able to give.

A thumping was heard as Ron quickly descended the stairs, holding the card out in front of him. He handed it over to the two men.

They quickly and expertly examined it. "Very, very good condition. Mint, actually. As if it'd been put into a cover immediately after opening." He tapped the empty portrait. "Mr. Flamel, if you would, we're with the company and would like to verify that this is your card."

The miniature head and shoulders of Nicholas Flamel walked into the frame.

Walter looked up. "This is a mint condition card, and isn't a fake. The reward for a card of this caliber is 750 Galleons. Is that alright with you, Mr. Weasley?"

Mrs. Weasley gasped, and Ron was just able to nod mutely.

Reaching into his robes, Nick pulled out a heavy looking bag, stamped with the Gringotts crest and the number 750 written in gold. "And here you are then. It's been a pleasure. Once you open the bag, the Gringotts seal will break and it won't show how much is in the bag." He turned to Molly. "Ma'am, if you'd show us the way out?"

Still shocked, Mrs. Weasley led the two men out.

Grinning widely, Harry looked at Ron. "That's awesome, Ron."

There was a thump, as Ginny sat on the floor. "Bloody hell, Ron. You're rich."

Ron just looked at the bag in his hand, still not quite believing what he was holding.

* * *

Tada! Done. Tell me if ya like it! That means read and review folks. Thanks. Also, I've had several reviews asking about Dudley's second year. I will be weaving him into this storyline more, but I'm strongly considering at least doing a couple of scenes from Dudley's POV. If I do, they'll be added as new chapters to Nine Months, with disclaimers on needing to read Chapters XX of this story. 


	6. 5: On to Diagon Alley

**Stone Pinions **

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: Do I have to keep repeating myself? All together now. Harry Potter, Xenogears, and 99.999999999 of the ideas in this story don't belong to me. The 0.000000001 of the ideas that do belong to me are so hard to find, it's not really worth claiming.

Chapter 5: On to Diagon Alley

* * *

Harry looked at the fireplace skeptically. "So… we step into the fire, call Diagon Alley, and we'll show up there? What, and hope we don't burn up first?" 

Mr. Weasley shook his head. "That's about it, but when you throw Floo powder onto the fire, the flames can no longer burn you. You call your destination, and it will take you there, as long as the other fireplace is on the Floo network. If it isn't, nothing happens."

At Harry's still unbelieving look, Mr. Weasley nodded. "I'll go first. Watch." He took a pinch of the powder from the pot on the mantle, throwing it into the flames. The flames turned green, and Mr. Weasley stepped safely into the fire, calling out, "Diagon Alley!"

He disappeared, leaving an impressed Harry behind. "Neat."

Ron stepped up next. "See ya there, Harry." Ron stepped into the still green flames, calling out, "Diagon Alley!" as well.

As Harry stepped up to the fireplace, Mrs. Weasley stopped him. "Throw another pinch in dear, the Floo powder only lasts long enough for two people."

Nodding, Harry pinched a little of the dust from the pot himself. Flicking his fingers at the fire, the gritty powder easily flew off of his fingers into the flames, again turning them from red to green. As he stepped into the flames, he felt something hovering next to him. _Guess it's whatever it is that moves us, waiting on me._

"Diagon Alley!" he called, and he felt something dart at him, grabbing a hold of his magical core, and physically dragged his by his core through the flames of the fire.

Up, down, left, right, and even upside-down the sensation seemed to drag him. Almost instinctively, the Void appeared in Harry's mind as he grabbed at his magic, trying to shake loose whatever was dragging him. Nothing happened as he kept whirling around and around, being spun senseless.

Gritting his teeth, Harry mentally grabbed hold of the pull, and this time dug his feet into whatever passed for the ground here. The pulling sensation increased tremendously, but Harry slowed down. Harry eyes were clenched shut, as he strained against whatever was tugging at his magical core. _Quit…bloody…screwing with…my MAGIC!_ Harry screamed inside his own mind.

O

Ron stepped out of the Floo, shaking his head. That last second in the Floo seemed to drag on forever. Brushing the soot off himself, he walked over to his dad to wait for the rest of them to come through.

There were several pops, and Ron watched in amazement as close to a dozen people Apparated in. They were dressed in Auror robes, and all had their wands pointed at the fireplace he'd just come out of.

"Everyone, please back away." The one in the lead said, as the rest of them, one at a time, turned their wands to banish the tables and chairs to the walls of the pub. "There's something that seems to be stuck in the Floo."

The patrons all gathered closer at this, surrounding the circle of Aurors.

Ron's face showed worry as he looked at the fireplace, then to his dad. "Hey, wasn't Harry supposed to be coming through next?"

Mr. Weasley nodded, his eyes showing worry. "You're right. I'll ask."

Pushing through the crowd, he managed to see the Auror in charge.

"Kingsley? What in the world is happening?"

The bald black man turned to look at the familiar, inquiring voice. "Arthur? Someone flooed something through that apparently really didn't want to be flooed. It nearly stopped inside the system, and it's slowing down everything. Judging by the size of the drag it's creating, it has to be at least a Class B magical creature."

Arthur blinked. "That's about the level of a hippogriff. Why in the world would someone send a magical creature as strong as a hippogriff through the Floo?"

Kingsley shook his head. "I don't know if it's a hippogriff, but if it is, it's going to come out of there rampaging mad, from the looks of it."

Arthur looked back at the fireplace. "You know, Harry was supposed to come through next."

"Huh?" was the confused reply. "I didn't think you had a boy named Harry."

Arthur had a small smile on his lips. "I don't. He's Ron's school friend. Harry Potter."

"Shit."

O

The pulling sensation was now so bad, that Harry felt it to be attempting to yank his magical core right out of his body. He was actually yanked from his feet and pulled rapidly a few feet forward again, before he managed to get another foothold.

Taking a deep breath, he channeled his Chi into the grip he held against the pull, only to find that it passed right through. _Stupid magic…_

As Harry screamed out in pain, he saw his well of magical power flare. As the flare died down, he could see a glow still coming from it, and the pull seemed to be lessening, as if he were pulling it into himself instead. Looking at the magical power, he was shocked and confused to see a Rune seemingly inscribed on his core. The Rune seemed to be absorbing the power of the pulling sensation, pulling him along whatever trail he was supposed to be on.

Opening his eyes as the pain subsided, Harry let himself be pulled now that it didn't hurt. As he looked along the path, he blinked as he saw the wall he was about to be dragged into. Harry closed his eyes again. _This is going to hurt._

O

The flames of the fireplace seemed to diminish to almost nothing, before roaring up again, reaching almost to the ceiling while turning green to that show someone, or apparently some_thing_, coming out. All of the Aurors wands came up with multiple cries of, "_Stupefy!_" but the object was moving too quickly to be hit.

Harry opened his eyes, having felt himself pass through whatever wall he'd been about to hit. The pulling sensation had stopped just as he'd passed through it. Now, he seemed to be on a direct course with the floor somewhere. Tucking himself into a ball as best he could, he hit the floor and rolled, bleeding off as much of the forward momentum as he could, just like he'd been taught. After a few rolls, he ended up on his back, staring at the ceiling. Harry groaned, then laughed quietly to himself. "At least it doesn't hurt anymore."

"What doesn't hurt anymore, son?"

Harry tilted his head back a little more, to find a wizard looking at him. "Uhh…"

"I see." The man smiled at him. "Maybe you know why you were thrown almost fifteen feet out of the Floo?"

"Umm…" Harry just shrugged, not sure what to say.

The wizard sighed. "Stand up, if you would please." Harry managed to stand up, on wobbly legs. "Do you at least know your name?"

"Harry Potter."

"Son of a…" The man turned around. "Arthur, he's over here."

Arthur came over, trailed closely by an anxious Ron. "Harry, are you ok? What happened?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm alright now, I guess. Mrs. Weasley told me to throw a bit more powder into the fire, so I did. Then I yelled 'Diagon Alley' like I was supposed to. Then something grabbed my core and yanked me through the fire. It hurt like hell at first, and I fought it."

The man spoke up again, before Mr. Weasley could answer him. "Your… core?"

Harry winced. "Yeah, my magical core. Whatever it was felt like it was trying to rip it out of me."

The man lifted an eyebrow. "And how old are you?"

"Twelve, why?" Harry lifted an eyebrow back at him.

"Twelve, and already has the beginnings of Corecas. Merlin above!" The man walked away, and grabbed another one of the men in the same uniform. "Go back to headquarters and grab a bag of the Corecas Floo powder."

The man nodded, and then Apparated away.

The first turned back to Harry. "I'm an Auror."

Harry grinned. "I remember you. Aren't you Mr. Shacklebolt?"

The man blinked. "Yes."

Harry laughed. "You appeared when my cousin and I were practicing martial arts. Remember?"

"That's right." Shacklebolt nodded, thinking a few years back. Anything further was forestalled by the reappearance of the man Shacklebolt had sent off, now holding a bright purple bag. Shacklebolt took the bag and handed it to Harry.

"First one's on us. Use this instead of normal Floo powder, as it'll look for you to hand a bit of your magic to pull you along in the Floo system. If you run out, you'll have to get more in the Alley." He let go of the bag. "And for Merlin's sake, if you have to use regular Floo powder again, let it pull you. It takes a hell of a lot less time if you don't fight the Floo system. Won't hurt so badly either."

Harry nodded slowly, unsure of what he was talking about.

Shacklebolt looked at Mr. Weasley. "Arthur, you'll explain it to him right?" Arthur nodded. "Good. I'm out of here. This is going to be another long night, writing this report. I want you to stop by tomorrow and add your comments. No offenses or charges today."

Mr. Weasley thanked the man and agreed to stop by in the morning.

"Alright men, let's go." The Aurors all disappeared with a resounding pop.

The bartender came out from behind the bar, and with a wave of his wand, started putting tables and chairs back in place.

Mr. Weasley sat down in one of them, and motioned the two boys to sit as well. "Sit down, it'll probably only take Molly and the others a few minutes to Floo in, if the system is back up. I imagine they shut down Floo access to here until they resolved that problem."

Harry looked at him. "What's Corecas?"

Mr. Weasley grimaced. "It's a term that refers to a witch or wizard that is very in touch with their magical core. They can sense it quite a lot better than most people. You have to be able to hit that step before you can learn wandless magic."

Harry was quiet, thinking over what he'd learned from his Sensei. He didn't speak though.

"At least the Aurors gave you that Corecas Floo powder. We'll test it out on the way back to the Burrow, so you can use it. And just because you have it, don't use it up quickly. That stuff is expensive."

Harry nodded. _I'll pay for it a dozen times over if it makes the Floo system from trying to rip my core out._

They waited in silence for a moment more, before the fireplace roared and Percy stepped out.

Mr. Weasley waved him over to the table. "Over here, Percy."

He nodded, and sat down next to them, turning around to watch the fire. "What happened, father? We tried to Floo right after Harry, and the fire tossed us right back out at home."

"Nothing important, don't worry."

The fire quickly flamed up again, and the twins, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley each came through the Floo in turn. Each had the question of what had happened.

"Molly, I'll tell you later. The rest of you, don't worry about it." Mr. Weasley stated in his rare, 'don't argue with me' tone.

The two adults then herded the six kids out of the pub and into Diagon Alley.

"First stop is Gringotts." Mrs. Weasley said. "And Ron, we'll open up a separate school vault for you, alright?"

"A vault? For just me?" Ron looked extremely excited.

"Yes. It costs a few Galleons to open, but it's the best place to keep as many Galleons as you received." She smiled at him for a moment, and then added in a firmer tone,. "But we'll only open it for you if you promise to put that whole bag in there."

"Yes, mum, I promise."

Once they reached the bank near the other end of Diagon Alley, they walked inside and Mr. Weasley turned to look at Harry.

"Do you need to visit your vault?" He asked.

Harry patted the moneybag that he'd tied onto his pant's belt loop. "No sir, I still have a little over a hundred Galleons from what I pulled out last year."

Mr. Weasley blinked for a few seconds, then nodded. "Right then. Just remember, don't pull everything in your school vault out at once, it doesn't replenish."

Harry didn't say anything, remembering the still vast number of Galleons he'd left in the vault last year.

"I'll take the others down to our vault; Molly, do you want to get Ron set up with his vault?" Mr. Weasley asked, turning to his wife.

She smiled and nodded. "Why not."

Mrs. Weasley led Ron up to one of the counters, with Harry trailing behind her.

"Yes?" The goblin at the teller window sneered down at the three of them, sharp, needle-like teeth glinting.

Ron and Harry shrugged it off, seeing as it wasn't as good a sneer as Snape usually gave them.

Harry leaned towards Ron. "Betcha it'd drive him nuts if you were really nice to him." He whispered.

It didn't seem to really affect Mrs. Weasley either. "I'd like to open a school vault for my son." She told the goblin.

"Oh? And does your son have anything more than a few Knuts to put into it?" The goblin switched its stare to Ron.

"Actually, yes." Ron smiled at the goblin. "Does this count?" He held up the bag he'd been given, Gringotts seal still affixed to it.

"Well, well." He looked to Mrs. Weasley again. "There is a three Galleon fee for opening a new vault. As you hopefully know, school vaults are not taxed and gain very little interest. Are there any other rules you would like to have added?"

She thought for a moment. "On this deposit," she pointed to Ron's Galleon bag, "no more than 100 Galleons can be removed a school year. Anything else he puts in there he can take out as he chooses."

"But mum-!" Ron started.

Mrs. Weasley looked sharply back at him. "Ronald Weasley, there should be no way you can spend over a hundred Galleons in a school year, where most of your money would be going for whatever treats you could talk your brothers into buying for you."

Ron nodded morosely. "Alright."

"Does he get to choose where his vault is?" Harry spoke up suddenly and asked the goblin.

"Within reason, it might be possible." The goblin's eyes narrowed, staring at him.

Harry shrugged. "I just wondered if he could get one close to my vault, 687?"

The goblin opened a book, looking down a list. "As it happens, 689 is open and on that track. I see no reason to not let him have it."

Harry grinned at Ron.

The goblin pulled several documents, asking Mrs. Weasley several questions, which she answered. Ron and Harry didn't pay too close attention, so Ron was caught off guard when he was thumped on the head.

"Oi! What was that for?"

"If you would, Mr. Weasley, sign here for your vault key." The goblin glared at him.

"Oh, oops." Ron blushed, and then grabbed the quill, quickly signing his name.

"Now I require the Galleons in your bag, please."

Ron handed over the bag, which the goblin quickly opened and poured onto a table behind him. He then handed the empty bag back to Ron. "Your vault will have the requisite number of Galleons in it. These will be counted and weighed. Should they come up light or false, fines will be levied against you."

"It had the Gringotts seal on it. I wouldn't mess with that." Ron quickly defended himself.

The goblin gave another toothy smile. "Ah, but there are those who do try. Take this as your warning then." He called for another goblin, which came to lead them down to Ron's new vault.

The cart ride was just as fun as Harry remembered it to be, and soon they were at Ron's new vault. The goblin opened it up for him, and Ron was pleasantly surprised to see small stacks of Galleons on the ground.

The goblin looked at Ron. "Only up to a hundred. The vault's charmed to not let more than that out. You put more in your bag, they'll just reappear on the floor."

Ron nodded, and started loading up the empty moneybag. He only stopped once the coins started reappearing. "Okay, I'm ready."

Mrs. Weasley smiled at him, and the three rode the cart back up to the top, after she'd checked with Harry to make sure he didn't need to get anything from his vault. They met up with the rest of the Weasley family at the entrance to Gringotts.

"Alright you lot, books first. We're going to Flourish and Blots." Mrs. Weasley stated.

Ron grinned, and patted his moneybag. "I'm buying all new books this year."

As they reached the entrance to the bookstore, they saw a line of people with books leading into the store.

"What on earth?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Percy pointed to a sign near the door. "That's probably it, father."

The sign read: _"Book signing today! Gilderoy Lockhart, author of the autobiography, 'Magical Me'"_

Mrs. Weasley stamped her foot. "And me without any of his books."

"Don't worry, Molly. You can always owl him a book and ask him to sign it. He might do that." Mr. Weasley laughed as he answered his wife.

They walked into the store and Ron went almost gleefully to the bookshelves, looking for new copies of the books he was supposed to have, instead of the ancient, falling apart copies he had at home.

He didn't notice his sister watch him glumly, then shuffle over to the bin where all of the used books were, where she started sifting through them, looking for copies of her books that were in at least decent shape.

Harry had, and he got an idea. Looking down at his own list, he remembered there were only two books that he was supposed to have that were different from last year, and since the DADA book had changed… Harry walked up behind her, grinning as he heard her grumbling under her breath. "Elly."

She started, before turning around. "Ginny. Or would you like me to call you Henry?"

Harry laughed. "Point taken. I'd planned on getting new books this year, so do you want me to give you my old ones? I bet they're in a lot better shape than these are."

She looked down at her feet. "I don't know… I'd really rather not have to take yours from you."

"If I don't give them to you, I'll probably just end up giving them to someone else at school. I'm just giving you first shot."

Ginny looked up and smiled slightly. "Alright, thanks Harry. I still need to find a copy of the DADA book though."

"Nah, you don't have to do that. I'll buy it for you." She started to say something, but Harry continued on. "Consider it a… birthday present. Happy Birthday, Ginny."

She blinked, startled. "How'd you know today was my birthday?" She whispered.

Harry shrugged. "Lucky guess."

The two walked over to the bookshelves, and Harry picked out all the books he'd had last year except for the DADA book. They managed to grab two of those and headed up to the checkout.

After Harry paid for them, he looked at all the books in the single bag. "Can I get a second bag, please?" He asked.

The cashier nodded, pulling a second bag out. Harry pulled two books out of the first bag, and dropped them into the second bag.

"What did you need a second bag for, Harry?" Ginny asked, curious.

Harry grinned mischievously, and then held up the bag only holding two books. "Well, I needed a bag for my books," he held up the bag with the majority of the books, "and a bag for yours too." He handed her the book filled bag.

Ginny snatched the bag and glared at him. "Harry Potter. I can't believe you'd…you'd…" she trailed off, obviously trying to think of something good to call him.

Harry laughed a bit, but before he could say anything in response, they both heard another voice.

"Harry Potter? As I live and breathe."

Harry groaned, turning around, only to find himself face-to-face with the same picture from the book signing poster. The man flashed a blindingly white smile at him. And then there was another blinding flash, this time from a camera.

"Ah, Harry, my boy. If only you knew that you were so close to having the true Magical Me as your teacher this year. I had already had my acceptance letter written to your fine Headmaster whom had begged me to take the Defense position, when I was approached by a lovely maiden who pleaded with me to come save her far away village of Solari from a horrible monster. It is unfortunate that I must rush off to rescue her village, in far off Bermuda, where she says many brave warriors have already fought against and lost to this beast. But fear not, I shall endeavor to clear her problem as quickly as possible. Maybe your Headmaster will allow me to give a few pointers to the unfortunate soul who must live up to the high standards I would have brought to your classroom." The man, Gilderoy Lockhart if the posters were correct, proclaimed.

Lockhart grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him by his side. Lockhart smiled at the cameraman, attempting to prompt Harry to do so as well.

Harry just stood there stoically, and then grinned evilly at the camera when a thought came to his mind. Once Lockhart had released him, he walked up to the cameraman. "Destroy those photos with me in them. You're not allowed to use them."

The cameraman looked at Harry smugly. "And why would you think that?"

Harry just grinned wickedly back. "One, because I'm a minor and no one has signed a release for my picture." The man's smiled dropped a bit. "And two, I am not authorizing any pictures of myself to be released for anything other than public charity work, as the Head of the Potter Family. Should I hear of any pictures made of myself that I have not authorized, I will find a lawyer willing to sue both you and Lockhart."

At this, the cameraman grimaced and nodded. He did something to the camera, which clicked a few times, and then looked at Harry. "Fine, they're gone."

Harry nodded. "Thank you then." He turned away.

"Already taken with the press, are we Potter? At least you're behaving like a proper pureblood should be." Harry sighed as he heard Malfoy's voice. "Although, your choice of girlfriends leaves something to be desired."

Ginny blushed as she heard this, but Harry didn't pay it any attention.

"And what do I care what you think, Malfoy? If you must know, I was getting my picture removed from the camera, not taken."

Malfoy laughed. "Ah, I don't think so. I watched the spectacle you made. You were probably making sure the pictures would come out showing your better side."

"Whatever." Harry tried to walk past him, where he could see Ron now paying for his books.

"I'm not finished talking with you, Potter. Or maybe you could leave your girlfriend here to entertain me until you get back?" Malfoy laughed again.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Get lost. I'd rather not say anything to you at all, or leave anyone to 'entertain' you."

It was then that he heard several other voices behind him. Harry turned to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking to someone.

"Amazing," the man that was speaking to the Weasley parents reached down into Ginny's bag, pulling out one of the books Harry had bought for her, "that you were able to afford two completely new sets of books for your children, Arthur." The man looked at Mrs. Weasley. "Or maybe, your wife has a second job?" He dropped the book back into Ginny's bag.

Both of their faces reddened. "Excuse me, Lucius? What exactly did you say?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"I? I didn't say anything, except ask if your wife might have a second job, beyond homemaker. I was just wondering, since I do not think a Ministry job at your level would pay enough." Lucius smirked.

Arthur nodded, and then turned to walk away.

"Of course, I wouldn't pay her to do a job for me."

Harry watched as Mr. Weasley turned around. Apparently this _Lucius,_ had expected a verbal retort, not the fist to the jaw he received. As he stumbled back, Mr. Weasley took his wife's hand and marched over to his onlooking children.

"Mr. Malfoy, I think you had best go help your father." Mr. Weasley strongly suggested.

Draco nodded, furious, and went to his father who was just now recovering from the blow.

"Is everyone done with their book shopping?" The Weasley children and Harry nodded. "Good. Then let's leave, before I'm tempted to hit him again."

They gathered their things and quickly left the bookstore.

As they finished up their other needed shopping, Ron caught sight of a familiar bushy head. "Hermione!" He yelled.

The girl smiled and waved at them, dragging her parents over to introduce them.

"Hey guys. These are my parents. Dr. and Dr. Granger. Mr. and Mrs. Granger when they're not on the clock." She grinned at the confused look on most of the Weasleys' faces. "They're both dentists."

"Den tists?" Mr. Weasley said, trying out the word.

"Yes," Mr. Granger smiled, "we're, what was the word you used, Hermione dear? Muggles, that work on teeth."

"Amazing. But why would you need to work on teeth?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "If you're going to ask them a hundred questions Arthur, we can at least go sit down to do it."

"Yes, yes. How about for some ice cream?" Mr. Weasley suggested.

All the kids' eyes lit up. Hermione grabbed her dad's arm. "Come on dad, once won't kill you, right?"

He laughed. "Alright, but you will be brushing extra good tonight young lady."

After they'd sat down and placed their order, Mr. Weasley began questioning the two dentists about their lives. Harry, Hermione, and Ron quickly tuned it out. Harry turned to Hermione.

"You know, I've got something you might be interested in, Hermione." Harry grinned. Ron snickered, thinking about what was going to happen.

"Oh?" Hermione turned her full attention to Harry, idly playing with her ice cream.

"Yeah. You remember how you could only find that one really big Alchemy book at Hogwarts?" Hermione nodded. "Well, I've got an advanced how-to book on Alchemy for you."

Hermione squealed, causing just about everyone eating at Fortescue's to look at her. She blushed in embarrassment, before waving them off. "How? Is the bookstore selling it? Do they have the basic ones too? How much was it?"

Harry laughed. "No, they weren't selling this book, or basic ones that I know of." Hermione's face fell. "My martial arts teacher, Sensei Uzuki, gave it to me to give to you. It's still back at Ron's house though, so I'll have to give it to you on the train."

Hermione's mind was working overtime; both Harry and Ron could almost see the gears whirling in her mind. "How did he get an alchemy book, I thought he was a Muggle?" she whispered.

Harry grinned. "Not really. The book is supposed to be your reward for helping to protect his stone last year."

Hermione's jaw dropped, and she was at a loss for words.

Harry nodded understandingly, and then made a quiet gesture before she could exclaim anything. She snapped her mouth closed, then tried again in a quiet voice. "Harry, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Probably. But don't say anything, ok?"

She nodded, but questions blazed in her mind. She'd hold off until she could ask them openly, if she had to.

When they'd finished their ice cream, and Mr. Weasley had finished quizzing both Mr. and Mrs. Granger about their lives, they walked up to the counter to pay. As Mrs. Weasley was digging in her purse for some money, Harry opened up his bag and pulled out three Galleons, paying for the ice cream. He took the few Sickles change, dropping it into his bag as Mrs. Weasley looked up in time to catch the transaction.

"Harry, you didn't need to do that." She frowned softly at him. "Let me pay you back."

Harry shrugged. "Nah, it's alright. I just beat Ron to it, actually."

Mrs. Weasley looked at her youngest son, who was guiltily putting several of his own Galleons back into his pouch. She sighed. "Alright."

They bid goodbye to the Grangers, as Hermione gave Harry one last stare, as he impishly waved goodbye to her.

Ron glanced at him while waving goodbye as well. "You know, that's going to drive her nuts until we get on the train."

"Yeah, but we won't be there while she's going crazy." Harry grinned.

"True."

They reached the Leaky Cauldron and stepped inside. Stepping up to the fireplace, Harry very carefully stared at it. "I'm not using that Floo powder again."

Mr. Weasley nodded. "Take a pinch of the powder you have then, and toss it in like normal. When you call out your destination, push your core towards it. That's how Corecas powder works. Just yell out 'The Burrow' to get back home."

Gingerly, Harry stood up in front of the fire. He pinched some of the powder out of the bag, and tossed it in. The flames turned green again, but this time a deeper shade of green. He hesitated.

"You can do it, Harry." He heard Ginny's quietly spoken voice behind him.

Turning, he grinned at her. "Right." Stepping into the flames, he felt the same hovering sensation near him he'd felt at the burrow, but this time it didn't seem to be waiting for anything. Calling out, "The Burrow!" he channeled his magic at the thing, like it was his wand. This time, it was a gentle sensation that lifted him into the fire, showing him the way back to the Burrow.

* * *

Woo, right over 5k words, written out over a single day. You people rock. I hadn't expect to write this one as quickly, but all those reviews inspired me. Granted, I would have written this pretty quickly anyways, but great people deserve this now. Granted, there were some…odd reviews, but hey, they're all good. 

Read and review, and as always, Many Thanks for doing so.


	7. 6: Did we lose the platform?

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: Lockhart walks onto the stage, his teeth serving as his own spotlight. "Ah, the adoring public. The author of this story has begged me to give today's disclaimer. He owns none of the Harry Potter series or stories, nor the Xenogears world. Now, do not wish me luck, as I shall not need it as I go to rescue the fair maiden's village." Lockhart traipses off-stage. The author walks out. "Howdy folks. For those of you that haven't played the Xenogears game, please note. Soylent Green is people!"

A/N: Yes, I really should be studying for my mid-term. But this is so much more fun.

Chapter 6: Did we lose the platform?

* * *

Harry circled around his eyes, mentally going over everything he'd learned about them. Nothing seemed to jump out and explain how it was he saw, unfortunately. _What else is there? I've looked at my eyes by themselves, what they look like on my face, everything! How else can I figure out how I see?_

"Maybe inside…" Harry whispered to himself, as he closed in on the mental image he held of his own eyes. As he was slowing sinking into them, a shudder went through the Void. Grimacing, Harry opened his real eyes to find Ron standing in front of him. "You always pick the worst time, don't you?"

Ron laughed at him, and then grinned. "Not my fault you decided to meditate on the day we go to Hogwarts. At least you didn't try to break my arm like the first time I knocked you out of it." Harry held his hand out and Ron pulled him up. "Time to go, Dad said we're taking his Muggle car."

"I didn't know your Dad had a driver's license." Harry said as they both moved around the room, grabbing the last few things going with them to Hogwarts. They'd both packed the night before, warned by Ron's mum to be ready.

"Driver's lenses?" Ron asked.

"License, not lenses. It's a Muggle card showing you know how to drive properly." Harry explained as he set the carved box into his trunk, covering it with a robe.

"Dunno. If it's a Muggle thing, Dad probably has a couple of them." Ron grabbed the side of his trunk, pulling it. "Come on, let's go load up."

Thinking about the limited space in the boot of a car, Harry nodded. "Yeah, we probably need to be first to get them in there." They pulled their trunks downstairs and out the front door, where Mr. Weasley was fiddling with the car's engine.

Harry and Ron handed over their trunks, which Mr. Weasley easily fit inside the boot. Harry peered into the boot, and noticed that there was still plenty of space. Perplexed, he looked at Mr. Weasley, a question on his lips.

Mr. Weasley grinned at him. "A lot of room those Muggles build into their cars, isn't it, Harry?" He said, before Harry was able to voice his question.

Slowly nodding, Harry looked into the backseat, noticing there was enough room for half a dozen people easily. He looked at Mr. Weasley again, and noticed his eyes darting towards the house, where Molly could be heard trying to get the twins up. The older man's face had a silent, beseeching look on it. "Right… A whole lot of room, actually." Harry said slowly.

Mr. Weasley smiled at him grandly, his head bobbing up and down quickly. "Amazing things they're able to do." He waved to the backdoor. "Hop on it, we're leaving in a few minutes. Molly should be out with the others in a moment."

The two boys got into the car, Ron scooting all the way to the side so he could keep the window seat. Harry sat next to him, waiting on the rest of the group to pile in.

It wasn't a long wait, as Ginny, the twins, and Percy quickly came out of the house, handing their own trunks over to their father before climbing into the backseat of the car.

Ginny blushed lightly as she was somehow maneuvered to sit next to Harry by her brothers. Harry smiled and nodded at her, either not paying attention to or not noticing the blush.

The two adults got into the car, and Mr. Weasley started it up and pulled away from the house.

The drive was smooth enough to tell Harry that Mr. Weasley at least knew how to drive, even if he might not have a license. Harry contented himself with watching the countryside slowly change into the cityscape outside Ron's window. He was pulled away from his sky watching when he heard Mrs. Weasley arguing with her husband.

"No, Arthur. We have plenty of time and we're not going to fly there. Wasn't it illegal to add those charms to a Muggle car?" Harry's eyebrows rose. _So Mrs. Weasley does know there's charms on the car. And it can fly? _

"Well, not technically." Mr. Weasley said. "Only if it was for research purposes… And I installed an invisibility booster as well, so we wouldn't be seen!" He tried to counter argue.

"No. There's no reason to, and I don't want you to get in trouble with your own department for illegal charms on Muggle things."

And that was the end of that argument.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

They loaded up their trunks onto trolleys, Harry making sure to tie down Hedwig's cage so it didn't slip on any bumps he might hit. Looking up, he realized that the Weasleys had already started moving towards the platform, and Ron had hung back to wait on him. Nodding his thanks to Ron, they both quickly moved to rejoin the cluster of redheads moving down the train station.

They caught up in time to watch Ginny pass through the barrier to the Hogwarts Express platform. Mrs. Weasley turned around. "About time you two. The rest have already gone through. We'll be waiting for you, so don't dawdle." With that, Mrs. Weasley calmly walked at the wall, vanishing as she strode through it.

Harry grinned at the sight. "That's always fun to watch." He said to Ron.

Ron shrugged. "Yeah, but it'll be more fun to be on the train. You go first, Harry."

Harry set his trunk a little firmer on the trolley, remembering there was a slight bump on the transfer. He walked towards the wall, focusing on Hedwig, to make sure she wasn't startled when they passed through it. So he was the one startled instead when he hit the brick wall, and the wall hit back.

His trolley crashed to the side, Hedwig screeching as her cage fell to the ground. Harry quickly righted the cage and Hedwig calmed down enough to quit making as much noise. Several people looked at him oddly, so Harry shrugged and said, "Wasn't watching where I was going, sorry."

He quickly reset his things on the trolley, keeping Hedwig's cage on the ground at the moment. Ron was looking between Harry and the wall curiously, and a little fearfully.

"We just watched Ginny and Mum go through, and Dad said it doesn't lock up until fifteen minutes after the train's left." Ron leaned up against the wall. "Do you think the train left, and Mum got in just before it closed up?"

Harry shook his head uncertainly. "Not sure. If that's the case, can they get back out?"

Ron looked at the wall. "I don't know."

"Well, either they'll come out and tell us, or they have to Floo or Apparate somewhere and walk back to us. I'm not waiting." Harry grinned at Ron, mischief in his eyes.

Ron stared at him. "What do you mean? Oh, you mean Dad's car?" Ron's own eyes brightened as he considered it. "You think we could fly it to Hogwarts?"

"Actually…" Harry paused. "That wasn't what I was thinking at all. But we might still have to."

"What do you want to do then?" Ron looked around. "There's nothing else here."

"I'm gonna try to unlock it." Harry quietly said.

Ron stared at him in disbelief. "Are you nutters? I don't think both of us put together are strong enough to unlock it. And that's not considering how much trouble we'd be in for using our wands before we get to school. I do not want mine snapped."

"Then I won't use mine." Harry grinned slyly. "Sensei taught me something about magic as well. It's not the wand that is our magic, a wand just makes it easier and stronger." He put his hand on the wall, bringing his magic to the forefront of his mind. Digging deep into it, he channeled it through his hand and into the wall. "_Alohomora._" Harry whispered. There seemed to be a slight shimmer, but nothing else.

Ron's eyes went wide. "Holy…" he whispered. "You can do wandless magic?"

Harry nodded, still focused on the wall. "Open. Unlock." He glared at the wall. "Hell, Open Sesame. Just bloody open damn it." The wall shimmered again, weaker this time.

Harry dropped his hand. "Dammit, I know I can open this." He looked up, his face brightening. "I know." He said, in more chipper voice. He grabbed his trunk, opened it up, and started digging through it.

Ron looked on. "What's up, Harry?"

Harry lifted the intricately carved box out of his trunk. "My reward." He looked around, making sure that they weren't being watched anymore. Tugging slightly at the lock, it clicked open and Harry lifted the lid slightly.

Ron caught a glimpse of the inside of the box. "What in Merlin's name are those, Harry?"

Harry held his fingers over the smaller crystals for a moment, thinking. "Focusing crystals." He answered. After a moment, he disregarded them and grabbed the gem instead.

"If those were actual focusing crystals, then what the bloody hell is that?" Ron pointed to the perfectly shaped, seven-sided gem now in Harry's hand. "That thing's almost as big as your fist!"

"Sensei called it a focusing gem, instead of a focusing crystal. Just a difference in size I guess." Harry held it in his hand, looking at the wall. "Now I can open it, I bet."

Covering the gem with his hand as best he could to hide it, Harry focused on it, cutting out anything else Ron might have said. Channeling a slight amount of his magic into the gem, he was surprised to feel the slight amount increase in size to almost the entire portion of his magic he'd channeled directly at the blocked platform barrier earlier. He grinned.

Ron watched on as Harry seemed to stare through his hand at the gem. For a moment, there seemed to be a flicker of light inside of it, before he shrugged it off as one of the Muggle overhead lights hitting it.

A second later Ron was sure it wasn't one of the Muggle lights, as Harry suddenly looked up at the barrier. Harry mouthed a word, and the gem in his hand burst into a deep red color, with the other colors of the rainbow flickering around it. Suddenly, the wall seemed to flicker once, before Ron could actually see something flow away from it.

Harry sagged, exhausted from the draining spell he'd cast. "Give me that box, would you, Ron?" He motioned to the carved box he'd removed the gem from.

Wordlessly, Ron handed over the box from where it had been sitting on top of Harry's trunk. Harry quickly opened the box, dropping the gem into the depression for it, before closing it again. He stood up slowly, and put the box back into his trunk. "Well, maybe it was different in power too."

"Huh?" Ron asked intelligently.

"The gem. It wasn't just a difference in size, but in power too."

"Oh."

Harry laid his hand against the barrier and pushed slightly, grinning as he was rewarded with his hand passing through it. "Alright, we're good. Let's go."

Ron nodded. "Just… don't tell Mum. She'd have a fit I think."

"Probably." Harry agreed. He set Hedwig's cage on top of his trunk again, and tilted the trolley. "Ready?"

Ron nodded, and both boys pushed their trolleys through the barrier, only to find an aggravated Mrs. Weasley standing on the other side.

"I had thought you two would be right behind me. I get to the train with everyone waiting on us, only to find that you two didn't follow me? Ronald Weasley, did you stop and make both of you late?" She seemed to be slowly working up a full head of steam.

"No, Mrs. Weasley. I hit the barrier wrong and it knocked Hedwig's cage off my trolley. Ron had to help me get her set back, and then we had to wait." Harry quickly interjected.

Mrs. Weasley seemed to calm down a bit. "I see. Alright then boys, let's get you two onto the train and out of trouble. Come on." She turned around and walked towards the train.

Ron and Harry both followed her, Ron shooting Harry a grateful glance for the story that had distracted his mother.

As they walked towards the train, Mrs. Weasley looked to a little creature that was alternating between smashing its head against a wall and then kicking said wall as hard as it could.

"Poor house-elf. His master must have ordered him to punish himself." She said as they walked by.

Ron and Harry looked at the house-elf as well, then looked at each other. Harry had a question in his eyes. "Not much we can do, Harry. They do whatever they're told to by their masters, even if it is punishing themselves."

Harry nodded sadly and the two boys kept walking.

"Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad Dobby. Dobby tried to stop great wizard Harry Potter. Dobby left house when not allowed. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad Dobby." The little creature was saying, but no one heard him over the sounds of the train platform.

Mrs. Weasley led the two to the train, only to find the twins and Percy had already gotten on. Ginny was still there, waiting with her dad.

Ginny ran up to her mother, squeezing her in a hug. "Bye, Mum." She said as she held onto her.

Mrs. Weasley hugged her back. "You be good, alright dear?"

"Yes, mum." Ginny answered, stepping back.

The three piled onto the train, Ginny looking a little lost.

"If you don't know anyone else, you can sit with us." Harry offered.

Ginny looked at Harry, then to Ron, who shrugged. "Sure, thanks."

Ron looked down the row of compartments. "Come on, I wanna find Hermione and see if she's gone stark raving mad yet."

Ron shot down the path, quickly peering into each compartment as the train started moving. Harry followed behind him slower, laughing as Ginny looked confused.

"Hermione? That's the girl we met in Diagon Alley who had Muggle parents, right?" Ginny looked at Harry questioningly. "Why would she be going mad?"

"Ah, that's the question, isn't it?" Harry laughed as they both saw Ron nearly get bodily thrown out of one of the compartments he'd stuck his head into. "I got a book over the summer that she couldn't find in the Hogwarts library, but I told her at Diagon Alley she couldn't get it until now."

"Oh."

Ron slowly backed out of the next compartment, looking over to Harry. "Hey, I think I found her, but…" At Harry's confused look, he just pointed into the compartment.

Looking into the compartment, Harry was forced to laugh as he saw Hermione sitting there with an unholy glare. "Hi Hermione!" he said cheerfully. "How was the rest of your summer since we saw you at Diagon Alley?"

She held out a hand. "Book, please?" Now her glare had changed to one of sincere begging.

Harry fell into a seat across from Hermione. "You did that glare just to mess with Ron, didn't you?"

"Possibly." Was her only reply.

Ron came in along with his sister, and sat next to Harry. Ginny sat down next to Hermione. "You mean you didn't actually go mad?"

She shook her head. "No Ron, I didn't. Now Harry, please let me have that book." Hermione asked, turning to face Harry.

Nodding, Harry pulled the shrunken book out of his pocket, and then pulled his wand from his back pants pocket. Channeling a slight touch of his magic into his wand, his whispered, "_Finite_" to cancel the shrinking charm. The book returned to its normal size.

Hermione's eyes went wide at the inscription on the spine of the book. "A volume about Alchemy, and it's written by Nicholas Flamel! Oh my God, Harry, that book is priceless."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know about that, but I was given one rule that we all have to follow about this book."

"And that is?" Hermione trailed off.

"We're not allowed to let the Headmaster read it. That was directly from my Sensei, so you have to promise." Harry explained, still holding the book.

"Why can't we let the Headmaster read it?"

Shaking his head, Harry sighed. "I don't know, but I'm not breaking the promise I made to my Sensei. Do you promise too?"

Hermione looked at the book for a long moment, considering. Finally she nodded, looking at Harry. "Deal. I promise not to let Headmaster Dumbledore read it. And I guess that means we can't even let him know about it, since it's definitely something that isn't in the Hogwarts library."

Harry handed over the book, smiling. "So, what's in it? It's been shrunk all summer, so I wasn't able to even look into it."

Hermione opened the book up, flipping through the first few pages and reading them quickly. She then looked up. "This book…" she laughed disbelievingly at it, "this book can't be used without the other two that Mr. Flamel wrote. It literally takes up where the second one left off it looks like. There's no definition of terms in this." She looked down at the book. "Take this for example, 'Using the six-point ritual circle, creating a stronger seventh is possible'."

"Hey, it wasn't my choice of what to give you. He just said it was to start your own collection." Harry defended himself.

Hermione smiled. "Oh, it's still a great book. I'm going to enjoy reading it. I just don't think I could use anything in it."

Ron spoke up. "By the way, Harry, what was-"

He was cut off by the compartment door opening. Draco Malfoy walked in, looking around. "Two Weasels, a Mudblood, and Potty. Now all you need is a tent and you'd have a three-ring circus."

Ron stood up, pulling out his wand. Malfoy's two goons just cracked their knuckles.

"Welcome, one and all, to the second-year circus, where, regardless of efforts, we can't get rid of the more base commoners." Hermione said calmly. "Case in point, spotlight please on Mr. Malfoy and his two compatriots."

Malfoy just stared at Hermione, not sure exactly what to say.

She pulled out her wand as well, pointing it at him. Harry pointed his as well.

Ginny just sat there, not doing anything.

Harry grinned at the three Slytherins. "Unfortunately, the circus is closed, so please leave before we're forced to eject you."

Malfoy looked at the three wands pointed at him, then backed up slowly with Crabbe and Goyle moving behind him, and closed the door.

Harry sat down, Ron and Hermione doing so as well. He looked at Ginny. "You ok?"

She nodded. "Hermione said second-year circus. I'm going to be a first year, so I thought she didn't want me to play."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I didn't consider that you would be a first year." Hermione chuckled guiltily. "I'm curious though, what were you two going to cast on them?"

"Jelly-Legs" Ron said.

"Tarentallegra" Harry added.

"Mormoops Mucus" Ginny quietly said.

Ron looked at his sister, noticing her wand resting in her lap, the tip of it pointed at the now closed door. "That would have been messy."

Hermione looked interested. "What's that one?"

Ron turned to look at her. "One of our uncle's favorite spells. He died in the War a while back."

Ginny nodded slowly. "This is Uncle Fabian's wand." She held up her wand. "Mormoops Mucus is the Bat-Bogey Hex."

Harry started laughing. "That would have been so cool to see. Guess we'll have to let you try it on him next time, Ginny."

Ginny grinned at Harry quickly, before looking down again at her hands.

Looking at Ron and then Hermione, Harry spoke up. "You wanted to know about my reward, right?"

They both nodded, but Ron turned to his sister. "Umm, Ginny, do you think you could leave?"

Harry shook his head. "She can be here, Ron. I don't see any problem with her hearing about this."

Ginny, halfway out of her seat, dropped back into it in surprise.

"To start with, my martial arts Sensei back home isn't a Muggle." Harry began, filling Ginny in on the basics. "Since last year, the three of us helped stop Voldemort," Ron and Ginny shivered at the name, "Sensei Uzuki has to go home. Sensei Uzuki is actually Nicholas Flamel, but don't tell anyone, alright?"

The three listening to the story nodded quickly.

"Anyways, Sensei Uzuki told me who he really was over the summer and gave me some things as a reward. The Chocolate Frog card was for Ron, and the book was for Hermione."

"So that's where it came from." Ginny whispered.

"Right. My reward turned out to be a several focusing crystals, and a focusing gem." Harry continued on, ignoring Hermione's gasp of surprise, "Also, he gave me a magic lesson. Since I've been channeling my magic into my wand, it turns out I can actually do wandless magic since I can use my magical core." Harry paused to let that sink in.

"So you were trying to open the barrier wandlessly first?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded. "Right. I didn't want to use my wand, since we'd probably get into a lot of trouble. But I guess I'm not strong enough by myself. That's why I had to use the gem."

"A focusing gem?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded.

"But, a focusing gem would could more money than anyone would see in a lifetime. And Mr. Flamel gave you 'several' focusing crystals as well? I guess I can see him giving us rewards, but something like that?"

"I think he made them. That's one of the reasons he told me why people tried to learn Alchemy for. I guess it didn't cost him much money to create them."

Hermione thought about it for a moment. "Could I maybe have one of the crystals?"

"It wouldn't do you any good. You have to be able to channel your magic by itself, not with the Rune they put on our wands to help. I guess you'd have to be what the Auror called a 'Corecas' to do it."

"I think I read about that term. It means you're close to your magical core, doesn't it?" Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Yeah." Harry agreed.

Ginny frowned. "Auror? Is that what happened in Diagon Alley?"

Harry grinned at her. "Yeah, the Floo travel was really screwy for me, and I ended up causing a big problem in it. Mr. Shacklebolt, the Auror, gave me some special Floo powder that doesn't hurt me to use it."

"Oh."

"So, can you show me how to be a Corecas, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Me too. I wanna be able to use wandless magic!" Ron chimed in.

"Sure, I don't mind helping you guys. It's probably going to be just a lot of meditation though. That's how I started out finding my Chi, and that's probably how you guys will find your magical core." Harry looked at Ginny, who was being very quiet again. "You want to, too?"

"Umm… It won't mess me up learning to cast with my wand, will it? I don't want to get kicked out because I can't use a wand." Ginny said softly.

"Hmm…" Harry thought for a moment. "I don't think it could. I can still use my wand."

"I guess so then, if it doesn't bother you, Harry." Ginny acceded.

"Nope."

"And we'll help you with your class work too." Hermione added. "We got a lot of the class work done early last year because we were going through the book faster than the rest of the students."

Ron gagged. "More work? Bleh."

Harry looked to his friend. "You will at least be keeping up with me and Hermione this year, right? I was planning on going through the book as fast as I could again."

Ron sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess. At least I don't get yelled at by Mum for having bad grades. Fred and George just barely scrape by sometimes because they keep making those prank things instead of doing class work, and Mum really ripped into them for it at the beginning of the summer."

"It's decided then." Harry declared. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get back to what I started this morning. Don't shake me until we get to Hogwarts, okay Ron?"

Ron nodded and Harry closed his eyes. Hermione opened her new book. "I think I'll read some."

"Well, we've got a deck of cards. Want to play some Exploding Snap for awhile, Ginny?" Ron asked.

Harry barely heard Ron's last question as he sunk deeply into the Void once more. Sinking into the normal level he had been studying his eyes, Harry looked at them one more time. _There really is nothing else I can learn from this view. Guess I have to go into them._

In the darkness of his mind, one of his eyes faded out as the other grew bigger. Mentally swallowing, Harry moved into the deep blackness that was his pupil. Once he was actually inside the conjured image of his eye, he turned around.

He'd come through… a window? Looking closer at it, the frame of the window was circular, and the window opened by swinging open instead of lifting up. The frame was also warped and crooked in several little spots. Confused, Harry pulled it open slightly with his mind.

He was just about startled out of his meditation as he eyes cracked open and he could see Ron and Ginny playing Exploding Snap, while Hermione read her book. He quickly closed the window and his eyes closed as well. _ Well, I think that's how I see then._

A fragment of a memory flashed in Harry's mind, and he remembered something his Sensei had said. _The eyes are a window to the soul._

Grinning, Harry pushed himself out of the image of his eye, floating up and out of his meditation. He opened his eyes normally this time, just in time to see Ron's hand coming forward to shake him as the train started slowing down. _Guess Sensei wasn't joking. It really was a window._

"Nice timing, Harry. We need to change into our robes." Ron said.

Harry stood up, joints cracking in protest. "How long was I meditating?"

"About two hours or so." Hermione said, placing a marker in her book as she shut it. "What were you meditating for, anyways?"

"I'm trying to learn a technique to be able to see Chi. I think I may have figured out the first part finally." Harry answered.

"Come on, we're letting them change first." Ron said, pulling Harry out of the compartment.

The girls closed the shade on the window as the boys stood outside the compartment. After a few moments, they opened the door and Ron and Harry changed while the girls stood outside. Then they lifted the shade and let Hermione and Ginny back in.

"Looks like we're about to stop, I think that's the station up ahead." Harry said, pointing out the window.

* * *

Hey, what about that? Another chapter. As always peoples, read and review.

Also of note, I am working from an outline so I can write faster, but I really need to study for Saturday's mid-term. No more writing for me until Saturday afternoon, I think.


	8. 7: Welcome Back to Hogwarts!

**Stone Pinions**

**  
By Lochar**

Disclaimer: Hi everyone, the author here. Anyone want some Jerky? Anyways, beyond the idea of sending the bleached wonder to Solaris, I don't think I own any of this. I hope you enjoy it anyways.

Chapter 7: Welcome back to Hogwarts

* * *

The four quickly disembarked from the train, looking around the station. Over the heads of the other students they could see Hagrid yelling for first years, so they pointed Ginny in his direction. 

"Alright, Ginny. We'll see you at the castle." Hermione said with a smile. "Enjoy the trip."

"Just don't fall in, the squid eats people occasionally." Ron added.

Ginny's eye went wide, and she stared at her brother. "Eats people?"

Ron nodded sagely. "Oh yeah. Hopefully they fed it. Last year a few of the third years were saying they lost a student to the squid."

Ginny eyed the boats nervously.

Hermione sighed. "Honestly, Ron." She turned to Ginny. "The Giant Squid is perfectly harmless. It actually helps the students if they fall in. I have never heard nor read about it ever eating someone. Besides, would they allow it to continue living at a school if it did eat people?"

Some of the fear bled out of Ginny's eyes, but she still seemed slightly skittish and wasn't moving towards the boats.

Harry looked at Ron suspiciously. "Those third years last year…" He began. Ron looked at Harry, barely suppressing his laughter. "They were Fred and George, weren't they?"

Ron didn't say anything for a few seconds, before he finally broke out laughing. "Alright, alright. Yes it was them. I figured I'd use it on Ginny, since I knew she wouldn't believe their story about having to wrestle a troll to get Sorted."

Ginny scowled at her brother, and then kicked him in the shin. As he was hopping around in pain, Ginny turned to Hermione and Harry. "Thanks." She said quickly, before running off to catch one of the last boats.

Ron stopped hopping after a moment, and then bent down to rub his leg. Harry got a good look at it, noticing that it was going to be a spectacular bruise after a while.

"Where do we go this year, anyways? We don't ride the boats." Harry examined the paths leading away, wondering which one to take.

"I'd suggest following the older students." Hermione pointed to the group of students who were making their way off of the exit platform. She then glanced at Ron. "But not your brothers."

Ron stood up gingerly, testing his sore leg. "Definitely not Fred or George, Percy doesn't have sense of humor, so he wouldn't lie to us about where to go."

They joined the other students leaving the platform, Ron limping along with them. Once off the platform, they found horseless carriages waiting, with everyone breaking up into groups of four and entering them.

"Let's see if we can find one with three spaces still in it." Harry quickly jogged ahead, Hermione walking behind him and Ron grumbling and limping behind both.

By the time Ron had reached the carriages, Harry had already looked inside several of them, passing them up since they didn't have enough room. Finally, he stopped at one and beckoned Ron and Hermione to join him.

The three piled into the carriage, saying hello to Neville who had been sitting alone so far.

"You do anything interesting this summer, Neville?" Harry asked.

Neville shook his head. "No. I just stayed at home and worked in Gram's garden. How about you guys?"

"Nah, nothing special. I visited Ron's house for the last month of summer, but that's about it." Harry answered.

Hermione shook her head no, but Ron spoke up. "I found a really rare chocolate frog card in my collection. There was a 750 Galleon reward for it."

Neville looked impressed. "Wow, that's a lot of Galleons. Congratulations."

"Thanks." Ron said.

The boys started chatted about the upcoming year as the carriage started up towards the school. Hermione added an occasional comment, but she was mostly absorbed in her book.

Once the carriages made it to the castle, they all opened up and the students seemed to just pour out of them.

Harry climbed out of his own carriage, and then looked back to it. "What was pulling it, anyways?"

"They're magical carriages, Harry. Maybe magic?" Ron said. "Come on, I'm starving." With that he quickly limped up the stairs and towards the Great Hall.

"Is there a time you aren't starving?" Harry laughed quietly to himself, following behind Ron. Looking back at Hermione, he flipped her marker to the page she was on and snapped the book closed. "Come on, Hermione. You can read later. We need to get in there before Ron eats everything."

Sighing, Hermione nodded and walked next to Harry as they ascended the stairs.

"Although, I think it'd be easier to keep track of the times when Ron isn't starving or sleeping. It doesn't happen all that often." Harry added.

Hermione gave a startled look at Harry, before nodding in agreement and laughing.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Oh come on! How bloody long does it take to cross the lake? I'm going to die of starvation before the first years get here and Sorted!" Ron grumbled aloud.

"Ah, and if you should pass beyond, brother dear, can we have your vault?" One of the twins asked, leaning across the table and grinning at Ron.

Ron scowled at him. "No." Was his only reply.

"Touchy." Fred said, leaning back.

Ron didn't answer.

After a few moments, the doors to the Great Hall swung open, admitting the group of unsorted students.

"Finally." Ron said. "Hopefully this'll be quick and we can get to the food."

"Quiet!" several people hissed at him.

Ron noticed the serious looks he was getting and wisely quieted.

* * *

insert (random.SortingHatSong(Gryffindor:Courage,Hufflepuff:Loyalty,Ravenclaw:Intelligence,Slytherin:Cunning;rhyming(yes);WarningAboutYearno)) 

A/N: If you understood that, good for you. Otherwise, it just means I couldn't think of a decent song. Thanks for playing, try again next time after you take a C+ class. :)

* * *

Harry politely clapped along with the rest of the students. He wouldn't admit it to Ron, but he was getting pretty hungry as well. He heard Professor McGonagall start the sorting with "Creevey, Colin" before he tuned her out, and looked around the table at the other students, seeing if any of them changed much in the few short months school was out. Harry turned back to the Sorting in time to see someone named Luna Lovegood Sorted to Ravenclaw. 

Sighing quietly to himself, Harry resigned himself to having to watch the rest of the Sorting. Not that he was actually going to pay attention to it unless a Gryffindor was Sorted, really, but once it was over they could start the feast.

Finally there was only one student left and Professor McGonagall called her up, "Weasley, Ginevra." Ginny walked up and sat on the stool as the professor put the hat on her head.

Harry watched, amused, as the hat seemed to open up almost immediately to shout her House, before closing again. And then barely seconds later shouted out, "Gryffindor!" He clapped along with the rest of the Gryffindors as Ginny handed the hat back to Professor McGonagall and walked to the Gryffindor table, sliding into a seat across from him and Hermione. For some reason, she was blushing as she sat down.

Harry grinned at her in welcome and was surprised to see her blush deepen for a moment, almost matching the red on her now Gryffindor colored badge . Then, before Harry could ask her what was the matter, she busied herself by looking up at the High Table to the Professors, where the Headmaster had just stood up.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, ladies and gentlemen. I know you are all hungry, so I will keep the announcements as short as I can. The third floor corridor on the right hand side is now open, as the reasons for it being closed last year are gone. Quidditch tryouts are to be posted in your Houses by the end of the week, and captains are to schedule time with Madam Hooch for practices. Also, I would like to welcome our new Defense professor, Miang Hawaa. Professor Hawaa, if you would?" Dumbledore gestured to the only unfamiliar face at the table.

The new professor stood up, and Harry got a good look at her. Long purple hair, almost all the way down her back, and blue eyes that seemed to be staring right at him. _No… she is looking right at me._ The new professor nodded to him and then continued looking around the Hall, but Harry was left with a vague feeling of familiarity. After the new professor finished looking over the hall, she nodded to the Headmaster and sat down.

"What's wrong?" Ron quietly asked from his seat next to Harry.

Harry shook his head. "Not sure. I think I know the new professor, but I don't know from where. Like I met her a long time ago."

"Maybe from your martial arts class?" Hermione suggested. "You said your instructor wasn't a Muggle, so maybe she visited there and you remember her?"

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe. I'll ask Dudley if he remembers her, since I'm going to write him tonight."

Dumbledore spoke again. "I have just two more words for you then. Tuck in!"

At this, the headmaster sat down as food appeared on all the tables. Everyone started loading their plates as Ron let out an almost whispered prayer of "Finally!" Harry nodded and laughed, grabbing his own choices from the serving dishes.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry sat curled up in the overstuffed sofa chair with quill and parchment at hand. Using one of his school books as a surface, Harry thought about what to write to his cousin. After a few moments, he dipped his quill into the pot of ink resting on one of the arms, and then started writing.

_Hey Dudley,_

_School started today, but no classes. So I guess it really starts tomorrow. Anyways, I've been working on figuring out how my eyes see since I left, and I think I've got it. Now I've just got to wait for Professor Maison to start teaching me how to actually see with my Chi. Hope I found out how I see well enough that I won't have to keep working at it. How far have you been able to get in it? Has Sensei been teaching anything else to the class yet?_

_Hey, do you remember any odd ladies showing up in Sensei's class before? One of the new teachers this year seems kinda familiar, and I can't remember where. She's got really long purple hair and blue eyes. I'd say you'd know her if you saw her, but apparently I can't remember her._

_Anyways, I'll send Hedwig back to the tree in the backyard in a couple of weeks, so make sure if you write a letter back, it's out there._

_Later,_

_Harry_

Folding up the parchment, Harry tucked it into his robe. He stood up and looked around the common room. Even after the killer game of chess from last year, Ron was still playing. He was playing against someone who looked to be a fifth or sixth year and was winning. Hermione was curled up in another one of the overstuffed chairs, reading her book. He could see her tracing the lines of the book with a finger as she read along. Neville was playing Gobstones with another student as well.

He didn't see Ron's sister Ginny anywhere. She was probably up in her room though. It wasn't like he was trying to keep an eye on her or anything.

Harry went over and pushed on the back of the Fat Lady's portrait, moving through the hole and leaving the Gryffindor common room. He quickly walked down the tower and across half the school to the Owlery tower. Entering the tower, he grabbed one of the envelopes and wrote, '_Dudley Dursley'_ on it, before pulling out his letter and stuffing it inside.

"Hedwig." He called out.

The snowy white owl swooped down from her perch, landing on Harry's shoulder. She nipped his ear affectionately.

Harry petted the owl for a moment, before offering the letter to her. "Feel like making a mail run, girl?"

Hedwig picked the letter right out of Harry's hand, as if taking it before he could change his mind.

Harry laughed quietly. "I guess so. Take this to Dudley, would you girl? But drop it in the backyard tree so that Uncle Vernon doesn't get all bent out of shape about it."

The owl hooted once again, before flying off of Harry's shoulder and ghosting out one of the windows.

"Enjoy your flight, girl." Harry looked out the window until he couldn't see his owl anymore, then turned around and went back to Gryffindor Tower.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was the third day of classes, and the first class with the new DADA professor. Harry looked around the room, noticing how stark and bare it was. Very different from how Quirrell had had the classroom last year. _I wonder if it was Quirrell's design last year, or Voldemort's?_ Harry shrugged the question off as one he'd never find the answer to.

"Hello class, and welcome to your first Defense lesson of the year." Professor Hawaa stood before the class, in front of a very utilitarian desk. "First question of the year: How many of you have at least read your class book before coming in here?"

Harry raised his hand, along with Hermione and Ron. Hermione had wasted no time in starting them through their books again this year, and the Defense book actually looked really interesting. A few other students raised their hands as well, but most of the students stayed quiet.

"Well, at least a few of you have brains." Professor Hawaa pointed to Ron. "You, name?"

"Ron Weasley, Professor."

"Alright, Mr. Weasley. What is the only defensive spell in the first chapter?"

Ron thought for just a moment. "Protego, I think."

"You think? Yes or no?" Hawaa snapped back.

"Yes. That's the only one I remember." Ron quickly nodded.

"Good. Five points to Gryffindor for having read it and remembering something." She looked the class over. "Students, please stand and move your desks to the sides. We will begin with the Protego, or Shielding, spell right now. There is no theoretical portion of this class. If you are going to defend yourself from the Dark Arts, talking someone to death about what you should do isn't going to help."

Everyone quickly got out of their desks and pushed them against the far walls. They then stepped back into the place where their desks had been originally. It was eerily like lessons at _The Dojo_.

"OK. Wand motions for Protego are as follows: Make a small circular motion in front of you, and then slash with your wand through it, from the point where you complete your circle. Incant Protego when you begin the slash." Professor Hawaa explained to the listening class.

Everyone nodded.

"Well? What are you waiting for, an invitation? I want to see how many of you can actually cast it." She snapped at the class.

Harry nodded again, quickly thinking over the spell. Starting the wand movement, he started channeling his magic through his wand. Once his wand completed its circuit, he called out, _"Protego!_" slashing hard through the invisible circle he'd just drawn in mid-air.

Once the slash had went through the circle, Harry felt his magic in the wand expand into a bluish-white dome around him before stabilizing and then half a second later collapsing. Harry frowned.

Apparently the Professor thought it was good enough. "Very good, Mr. Potter." Harry didn't bother questioning how she knew his name. Every person in the Wizarding world seemed to know him, even if he didn't know them. "What's the matter?" She asked, noticing his frown.

"It didn't stay though, it fell apart." Harry explained.

Professor Hawaa nodded. "Correct. One more point to Gryffindor for your astute observation." She looked out over the class. "Remember that. Protego will NOT hold up for more than a second or so. The magical energy requirements go to high, too quickly to keep up the Shielding spell for an extended single use. Quick, multiple uses will not drain you as rapidly."

She walked through the students, continuing to correct wand motions. "Even if you get it once, keep casting."

It took her almost half the class period, but she managed to get everyone to cast the spell at least partially successfully. Finally she walked back up to her desk and looked at the students again. "Decent enough, I suppose. Now, even though I said no theoretical, here is your one and only theory lesson. While Protego may be a good spell to use to stop a curse used against you, if you are being attacked then staying on the defensive isn't going to work. Eventually you will get tired. So your best defense in most situations is a good offense. Keeping someone from attacking you is a defense, it just includes the offense."

Everyone was watching her closely now, as she was handling her wand and generally sweeping it over the classroom.

"Now, if I can keep my opponent moving, dodging my spells, he has no chance to attack himself." The wand stopped and pointed at Harry. "Take for example, _Tarantallegra_," as she said it, the jinx flew out of her wand.

Harry fell to the ground, allowing the spell to pass harmlessly over his head. Looking back, he corrected himself. Not completely harmlessly, as Neville had been caught by it instead and was now dancing wildly.

The professor walked up to Neville and quickly countered the jinx. "Two points, Mr. Potter, for being able to dodge a spell you weren't ready for."

She walked back to her desk again. "Now, I was saying… As you can see, Tarantallegra can be used to make a person dance uncontrollably and it makes it harder for them to cast, either the counter on themselves or against you." She grinned wolfishly at the students. "And it looks like class is just about over for the day. As this is something you all want to know, here is how I am going to be grading each and every one of you. Everyone starts out with an Acceptable in this class. There will be no theory in this class, all book studying is to be done outside this class. Do not expect to come in here and have me teach you the basics of any spell. I will correct wand movements and pronunciation, but I expect everyone to know the basics of whatever chapter I say we are on. This class will be a live fire test as well. Any spell I send at you is to be considered a test. Block it and you gain points. Don't block it, and you'll lose points. Find the counter and use it against the spell before it hits you for a better grade. This is all cumulative."

She paused, letting the students absorb her little speech. Most just looked at her, some in fear, some in awe. "Bonus points are awarded if you can send back the jinx, hex, or curse at me after blocking it. Double points if I can't shield in time. Class is over, everyone put the desks back in place. No telling any student what my class is like for today, or you will be my test subject for any spell I choose." Her grin now was almost evil. "As a pop quiz."

The students quickly reset the room and left. After they left, Miang looked at the closed door. "Maybe this time around will be more interesting, Contact."

* * *

Yea! I'm done. I know, I know. I told a couple of you I'd try to have this done last weekend. Guess what, I didn't! So here it is now. Next chapter title: Sight, or lack thereof. Go post on my forum! 


	9. 8: Sight, or lack thereof:

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: Look, we've been through this, what, 30 or so times now? If I didn't own it then, I don't own it now. Unless you give me to deed to it.

Chapter 8: Sight, or lack thereof:

* * *

"Hmm," Professor Maison was thoughtful. "I've never actually heard of anyone taking the saying literally before." He looked at Harry. "You say you found out how your eyes work, by looking through a window to your soul?"

"Not exactly." Harry disagreed. "It's more like I'm on the soul side of the window, looking out."

"Very interesting." Maison paced a moment, before turning back to Harry. "Unfortunately, I've never had to teach someone who's found how they see quite like you have, Harry. I'm going to have to write to Uzuki to find out what he knows. Until I find out what he suggests, I'm not going to be able to teach you to see Chi."

Harry sat down on the mats, his shoulders slumping. "Bugger all, and I really wanted to learn it, too."

"Don't worry mate, a quick owl there and back and Professor Maison should be able to teach you next week." Ron spoke up from where he was sitting against one of the walls.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Weasley, it's not as simple as that. Harry's Sensei is a Muggle, so I must send him a message through the Muggle post. Getting a message to him isn't hard, but receiving the reply takes a very long time usually."

Ron opened his mouth, probably to say something about Sensei Uzuki not being a Muggle, but Hermione elbowed him in the side. Ron turned his head and glared at Hermione who glared right back.

Ron subsided after a few moments, apparently catching her unsaid words, then looked back to Harry and Maison. Hermione turned to face the mats as well.

"I…see." Maison said.

Harry ignored the byplay between his two friends, instead attempting to sidetrack his professor. "So, if I can't learn Chi Sight, what are we going to do today, Professor Maison?"

Maison turned his attention back to Harry. "Actually, I was planning on teaching you this after you learned the Sight, but since we can't do that, we might as well move forward."

Maison walked back to his desk, taking his wand from on top of it. He then tapped the back wall, causing it to shimmer before fading away, leaving an opening.

"Weapons training." Maison turned and said. "Come here, Harry, and pick a single weapon. Every weapon in here I can at least teach you the basic and intermediate skills for, and with a few I can take you all the way to a Master's level."

Harry grinned and quickly went to Maison, with Ron and Hermione standing up and following to see what all there was.

Ron let out a low whistle, looking at the cache. "That's a lot of weapons, Professor."

"Indeed. And they are not children's toys to play with." Maison told Ron, before pinning Harry with a look. "And you will not be using any of these except when I am here, until I deem you at least at an intermediate level with your chosen weapon."

Harry nodded, eyes serious. "Yes sir." He turned back to the weapon cache, looking it over. There were almost a dozen different types of swords, a dagger that was almost as long as his forearm, a pair of smaller daggers, and a small axe. All were wickedly sharp; Harry could tell just from the gleam of their edges.

He grabbed one of the swords, one with a simple hilt and a medium length straight blade.

"A Tai Chi blade? Interesting choice." Maison noted.

Harry held the blade a moment longer, before putting it back into the weapons cache. "It doesn't seem… right, somehow."

"Oh?" Maison raised an eyebrow. "And does anything in there seem right?"

He looked the weapons over again. "Not really, sir, no. You can't _not_ hurt someone permanently with these. Is there something I can learn that won't hurt like that unless I make it hurt?"

"Something defensive?" Maison queried.

Harry thought about that. "Sort of. Is there anything that can be used both ways? Attack and defense?"

"Ah, I think I know what you want." Maison tapped the axe with his wand, causing the blade to fall off the haft. Grabbing the haft, he handed it to Harry. "Hold this." Harry did so, unsure of what he was supposed to do with it. "Let me see…" Maison tapped the tip of the haft in Harry's hand, then drug his wand up in the air. "Needs to be longer, on both sides." The small stick grew quickly, reaching down to touch the ground.

"A staff should be just slightly taller than its wielder. And with magic, the right size is easy to get." Maison noted, as the staff stopped growing when it touched his wand, slightly above Harry's head. "How is the grip? Your hand should go around it just enough for your fingers to touch your palm."

Harry set his hands around the staff. "Not thick enough, I think Professor."

Another go around by Maison's wand with the staff was enough to thicken it to the point that Harry was comfortable with it.

Maison looked at Ron, who was staring at all the weapons still in the cache. "Mr. Weasley." Ron turned around. "While you may look all you want, touching anything sharp will see you permanently removed from here while your friend is training."

Ron nodded, looking a little forlorn. "Yes sir."

"That doesn't mean I might not teach you one day, but you will have to get to a level with marital arts that I don't fear you hurting yourself or others. And I don't mean a level of using Chi, but your skill level period."

Ron went back to the far wall, where he sat down to resume watching. Hermione was already sitting again, and she'd pulled out a book from her bag and was reading it.

"Staves are something I can bring you close to mastery with, I just didn't expect you to want one. So, let's start with the very basics. How to hold your staff without getting it knocked out of your hands." Maison said to Harry. "From the center of the staff, place your hands about a third of the way towards the end. One hand over, the other holding under the staff."

Harry set his hands as he was told, finding the grip he took on the staff easy to hold.

"After just about any move you make, you should be able to return to this grip once you're done." Maison continued. "Now, the basic movement with a staff."

Harry frowned. "Basic movement? I know how to move, Professor."

"You may know how to move, Harry, but do you really think you would be able to go through your forms holding that staff? How are you going to change a punch into a strike with your staff then?" Maison stood there, waiting on Harry's response. "Try if you like, it will show me how well you are able to improvise at least."

Harry thought for a moment, and then took up a stance. Holding his hands roughly in the same place as when he sparred barehanded, he pushed out his trailing hand, letting the staff whip out in front of him.

**CRACK!**

And then dropped the staff, holding his head from where the extra length of the other end had hit him.

"As you can see, your normal moves are not as useful with a staff; there are a whole different set of movements you must use with one." Maison grabbed the staff from the ground, and then held it out to Harry. "Care to try again?"

Grinning ruefully, Harry took the offered staff and waited.

Maison quickly transfigured another staff for himself from his weapon cache. "Let's begin. When you make a high strike with your staff, you need to turn your body more like this, allowing the swing to complete, and it also adds more strength to the hit." Maison demonstrated, his own staff whistling through the air as he turned slightly with the staff. "The end of the staff closest to you should never reach above your ribcage when you are making an attack, otherwise you run the risk of your opponent doing to you what you did to yourself, which is getting around the attack and making you try to crack your own skull."

Harry rubbed his head again, feeling the small lump he'd managed to create on himself.

"Your side or leg can absorb much more damage than your head can, and the staff end that you hit yourself with doesn't have the power behind it your original strike does either."

After twenty more minutes of slowly working through each new change to his attack, Ron stood up, stretching.

"Watching isn't as exciting as it usually is, Harry. I'm going to go see what Neville's up to."

Harry stopped for a moment, turning to his friend. "Have fun." He looked between him and Hermione. "We're still going to practice after dinner tonight, right?"

"Yeah." Ron said, while Hermione looked up from her book, adding her confirmation before looking back down and continuing to read. Ron then walked out of the classroom.

Harry continued to follow his professor's instruction for the next few hours, as he gradually moved through each different strike and block he could do with a staff.

Finally Professor Maison called a halt, and Harry gratefully sunk to the ground, sweating profusely.

"I think that's enough for today, I know I've worked you hard."

Harry nodded, gulping air. "Heh, it was a lot harder controlling any of my movement with the staff."

"Yes, because you were not used to the weight of a weapon, and the balance required to hold it. You will eventually get used to its weight, and in a normal spar or even a fight, you would not have to go for a few hours at a time so fatigue would not be as much a problem as it is today." Maison explained.

Standing up, Harry handed the staff back to his professor. Maison took it with a nod, and placed it inside the weapon cache and then placed his own staff next to Harry's.

"Professor?" Harry started.

"Yes?"

"Could we borrow your classroom for the evening after supper?" Harry asked. "It's a lot easier to work in here when you've got the mats made than it is trying in the Gryffindor common room."

Maison nodded thoughtfully. "I see. I will be busy tonight, but I will leave the room available for you. Don't overexert yourself and fall behind on your studies though."

"Don't worry, Professor Maison, we won't." Hermione added from where she was packing her book back into her bag. "I'll make sure of it."

"Then enjoy yourselves." Maison said.

"I think I'll have to take a shower when we get back to the tower." Harry commented as they walked out of the classroom.

Walking next to him, Hermione scrunched her nose. "Definitely."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Everyone was finishing up supper, when Harry looked to his friends. "You guys ready to go?"

Hermione nodded. Ron took another bite of food before nodding as well.

Harry looked around the table for a moment. "Elly?" He asked, looking at the back of the red-haired girl's head.

She started, and then turned to face Harry. "Um, sure. But I'm Ginny, remember?"

"Oh, sorry Ginny. I don't know why I keep calling you that. I'll beat it into my head eventually." Harry grinned then hit himself in the head. "Ginny, Ginny, Ginny. Get it right brain."

Ginny giggled for a moment, and then stood up with Harry and the others. "Where are we going?" She asked as they walked out of the hall and towards a different part of the school.

"Professor Maison's classroom." Harry told her. "He's the Muggle Studies teacher, and he's been the one teaching me martial arts while I'm here."

"Oh."

They walked in silence for the next few minutes, until they finally reached the classroom. Harry opened the door, leading his friends in. Professor Maison had either left the classroom the way it had been, or transfigured the classroom back to the mats. Either way, the classroom was still set up perfectly.

Harry sat down on the mats, facing his friends. "Alright, have any of you ever meditated before?" He asked, not expecting a positive reply. He was therefore not surprised when he received three "No's" in quick response, as they sat down as well.

"OK, it took me a while to learn, so I don't expect you guys to get this today. We've only got a few hours until curfew, so we have to be back at the tower before then. I didn't bring my cloak, and I don't think Professor Maison would want us in here past curfew anyways." Harry said. "Now, close your eyes."

Harry watched as they did so before speaking again. "Imagine a blank space in your mind. It doesn't matter what size it is, but don't let anything into it. No pictures, no sounds, no thoughts; nothing. And hold it that way for a few minutes." He grinned as he watched them struggle with it, all of their faces screwed up in concentration. It was easy enough, in theory, but telling yourself not to do or think something in itself usually made it happen.

Harry sat there for the next hour and a half, watching them fight their own minds for a bit of space with nothing in it. Ginny had been the first to open her eyes and grin at him, opening her mouth to speak before Harry cut her off. He got up and moved to her, whispering quietly. "Don't talk too loud, you'll break their concentration. Did you get it?"

She nodded, whispering back. "It was really hard." She rolled her neck, and Harry could hear it pop. "How long were we trying anyway?"

"About an hour and a half, I think." Harry replied quietly, looking at his watch. "Next step is to see how quickly you can get back that blank space. It should be easier, but unless you can bring it back almost immediately, it's not good enough for what we're trying to do."

Ginny sighed. "Great, more staring at the back of my eyelids." She closed her eyes again and Harry moved away from her. He grabbed a piece of blank parchment from the top of Professor Maison's desk, and wrote down the time on it.

He repeated the same conversation when Hermione and then Ron managed to create and hold their own blank space. Finally, he noticed it was getting very close to curfew, so he spoke up very loudly. "Wake up, you three."

Their reactions were varied. Ron was startled enough to jerk like he actually had been sleeping, and he slipped backwards onto his back. Hermione's eyes flew open, looking around. Ginny managed to hold herself together enough that she calmly opened her eyes, but Harry could tell she was still shaken a little.

Harry looked at each of them, before speaking. "Question time. How many times were you able to bring it back after the first time and hold it?"

Hermione's shoulders slumped. "Only twice. I managed it once, doing it again should be easy." She seemed to be berating herself.

Harry didn't say anything as he marked it down next to her time.

Ron looked at her. "I got it three, and the third time was right before Harry shouted at us. That's what made me jump, by the way." Ron gave a friendly glare at Harry, who laughed and wrote his down.

"Um, five times?" Ginny said quietly.

Harry wrote hers down, and then did the quick math in his head before speaking up. "Well, after you guys managed it the first time, I wrote down the time so I could figure out about how quickly you could do it again. Ginny, you managed it once every nine minutes. Ron, you were every eleven and Hermione managed to do it in fifteen." Harry spoke again before they could say anything. "That includes however much time you spent holding it, so if you held it for five minutes each time, that cuts down the time it actually took."

Hermione sat there thoughtful, before asking a question. "How do we know how long we were holding it anyways? My sense of time was messed up while I was doing it."

Ron and Ginny voiced their agreement.

"That's solved in a later lesson." Harry answered. "We've gotta get back to the tower, we're really close to curfew." He stretched, popping several of his own joints in the process. "You all actually did better than I did when I first learned this; it took me several days to make that blank spot." He laughed. "Of course, I went for broke and made my blank spot take up just about all of my mind. How big did you all make yours?"

They all thought for a moment, before Ron answered. "Mine was about the size of a Galleon, I guess." Ginny said hers was only the size of a quill point, but Hermione's answer surprised him. "I don't know. About a quarter of what I imagined to be the space in my mind?"

Harry started at that. "Wow. That's really good Hermione." She grinned at the praise. "That's actually the next step. Once you guys can call up that spot immediately, you have to make it somewhere between a third and half of the space in your mind."

"Anyways, let's get out of here before we're breaking curfew. With my luck, Filch will find us and we'll all get detention." Harry laughed as he left the classroom, his friends quickly leaving as well.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was a few days later during breakfast when the owl post flew in. Harry ignored it like usual and was surprised to find his own snowy white owl swooping in to land on his shoulder. She dropped an envelope into his lap before nipping his ear.

Harry grabbed a piece of bacon from his plate and fed it to her before looking at his letter. Scrawled in Dudley's handwriting was his name. Surprised, he cleared a space on the table before moving Hedwig from his shoulder.

Harry regarded his owl with a questioning look. "You know girl, I don't think I sent you back there last night to check to see if Dudley had written his reply. You been getting some extra flight time?"

Hedwig just preened herself and ignored the question.

"Guess so. Thanks Hedwig." Harry petted his owl for a moment, before looking to his letter again. Hedwig stole another piece of bacon before flying off.

Opening the letter, Harry looked it over.

_Hey Harry,_

The next couple of paragraphs had been crossed out, but he could still read some of it. Dudley hadn't managed to get it completely, but according to Sensei Uzuki, he was getting close. Then he got to the part that hadn't been crossed out.

_Don't bother will that junk above this, I finally got it! Since it's been a couple of weeks since you sent me that letter, I guess you've probably got it too. How'd you manage to see Chi? Me, I had to channel my Chi through and then in front of my eyes, so that it lit up Sensei Uzuki's Chi aura when I looked at him. Did you know he's got an absolutely huge aura? He also knows how to hide part of it, so it doesn't blind us when we're practicing. It's really neat, actually, but hard to keep doing for a long time. If I can hold it though, it makes it easier to see what the other students are doing with their Chi when we spar._

_Also, Rico said he was going to start me on weapon training after Sensei left. He let me pick out the weapon I wanted to start with already too. I don't know what it's called, but the hilt on it is almost exactly like the hilt that was made from your blown up wand. It's got a long, thin, straight blade and it's really light. It's gonna be fun to use, I think._

_Speaking of that hilt, do you think you could try to get another one? A few days ago, it stopped absorbing my Chi, and I can't make it absorb anymore. Did I fill it up, you think? What am I supposed to do to drain my Chi easily now? I'll end up destroying the punching bag or spending hours hitting it. Guess I'll just have to make sparring at _The Dojo_ or with Rico really count._

_Anyways, write back. I'll leave this letter out in the tree for your owl to pick up. I'll keep an eye out for it to bring back your reply._

_Dudley_

He started grinning as he read through the letter, and then frowned when he got to the part about the hilt. Harry shrugged, thinking there wasn't much he could do, since Mr. Ollivander was the one who'd created it.

Harry paused, rereading the first paragraph again. "Oh cool, a description of Dudley's Chi sight. Wonder if I can use it?" Harry whispered to himself.

"Who's the letter from, Harry?" Ron asked from across the table where he was still eating.

"My cousin, Dudley." Harry replied. "It looks like he managed to get ahead of me in part of our class. I'm not surprised, actually, since he's got more lessons than I do right now."

Ron shrugged. "Either way." He shoved a last bite of eggs into his mouth and swallowed before speaking again. "Come on, we've got Transfiguration next, and I'm going to be ahead of both of you for once. Then you can be behind here, too." Ron grinned as he suddenly got up from the table and ran off, laughing as Harry chased after him.

Hermione laughed at the both of them as she stood up. "Boys." She ruefully shook her head as Harry and Ron raced out of the Great Hall. She looked to Ginny, who was also watching the two of them run off. "Bye Ginny, enjoy your classes."

Ginny looked at Hermione quickly, before looking back to the now empty exit where Harry and Ron had run through. "I will. Your and Harry's notes from last year are making classes easy so far. Thanks for them again, by the way."

"No problem. If you have any trouble, ask one of us, alright?" Hermione added. Ginny just nodded before looking down at her food again. Hermione walked off after Ron and Harry.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

That evening Harry managed to claim one of the overstuffed chairs and had backed it up into the corner, away from the portrait entrance and the stairs into the dorms, putting it against the wall where Hermione was making Ron study from one of their schoolbooks. He closed his eyes and drifted through the Void, calling up the image of his eyes again. Carefully, he sunk into the pupil once more and found himself in front of the window that was his sight.

"Let's see." Harry said, looking at the window. "If the window is how I see, Dudley said he channeled his Chi through and then in front of it. So, I should channel my Chi through the glass, and I guess in front of it is right on the other side of the window?"

Harry channeled a small amount of his Chi to where he was currently. He felt his Chi surge, but instead of going into his arms or legs, he actually felt it move up in his body to being almost physically right behind his eyes. "I guess that's right."

Slowly, he pushed it through the glass window, allowing it to fill the whole area, before pushing it through the window. Mentally, his shoulders slumped when he felt the Chi just fade away once it was outside the window.

"Maybe I'm not using enough Chi." Harry guessed. Dipping deeper into his personal well of Chi, he brought a much larger amount to bear. His head actually felt like it was buzzing for a moment, before he channeled it into the window, allowing all of it to infuse the window before he pushed it again out of the window and layering it on the other side.

Not feeling it immediately drain away, he opened the window hoping to see something through the Chi. The common room was fuzzy, but was quickly coming back into focus. Harry groaned to himself as he realized it was coming back into focus because the Chi was draining away. It was just taking a longer time since there was so much more of his Chi, and it had been draining from the other side, where he couldn't feel it going away.

Closing the window, the sight of the common room faded away as he quietly thought about it.

Mentally weighing his remaining Chi, Harry was surprised to find he'd already used almost a quarter of it up. He looked back to the window again, studying it carefully, trying to seeing what else he could find out about it.

The slightly marred and warped sides of the window frame were perfectly matched for the window itself. There didn't seem to be anything special about it, so he decided to look around the rest of the 'room' he was in.

The room was actually completely bare, with the window the only visible change to the whole thing. If it had been a normal room, he would have had to actually climb out the window to leave it.

"Maybe I can use the room to store Chi to keep it all from draining away?" He asked himself. "No worse than any other idea I've had."

Channeling about half of his total Chi reserves, he allowed it to pool into the room instead of forcing it all through the window. Again, he infused the window with a portion of it, and then pushed that part through the window outside of it. This time though, he pushed more of the pooled Chi into the window as well. After waiting a few moments and not feeling any drain away, Harry grinned and opened the window again.

"Yes!" He cheered to himself. His vision was extremely fuzzy and indistinct, but he thought he might see something. And then it started draining away again. "No..." his voice was dejected, but he pushed more of his Chi into it, shoring up the draining energy, but it kept falling away.

Dejected and tired, he closed the window again after all of the pooled Chi was gone.

"Great, now I've got only a little bit of Chi left, and I really don't feel wasting anymore. I was so close."

He left the Void and rose up, opening his eyes for real this time and focusing for a moment on what Hermione was saying to Ron.

"I heard that Professor Hawaa used the Conjunctivis Curse on the sixth year Defense class." She was saying.

Ron looked puzzled and asked the question Harry was about to ask as well. "What's that one do?"

"It magically blinds you to where you can't see. It's a really high-level curse, especially to use against a student." Hermione answered Ron's question.

Ron shrugged. "She told us it's all a live fire test. As long as she can reverse it, I don't see what the problem with it is."

"That's not what I mean. I'm trying to tell you we need to study more of the counter curses and such. I looked at the parts of the book that the sixth years are using. It was mentioned once, not by name, and then only in passing. So that means any spell that might even be _mentioned_ in the part of the book she's using for second year could be used on us." Hermione patiently told Ron, which explained to Harry why she was pushing a lot of the more unusual spells and their counters on them.

_Hmm, magically blinding? I wonder if I could do magical sight to counter it?_

Curious if it was possible, Harry again went into the Void, quickly finding himself back in the window room.

"Alright you, if I can't get Chi to work, let's see what magic can do." Harry grinned at the window, before channeling a decent amount of his magic into the room, allowing it to pool around him. "Huh?" Harry touched his magic, sensing there was a thread leading out of it, and then laughed. "My wand!" Quickly, he removed the connection to his wand, allowing the sense of it to vanish.

"Now, let's see if I can do a magical sight better than Chi."

Slowly, he infused the window in front of him with his magic, allowing all of it to stay there. As soon as he was finished and quit channeling magic into the window, the magic itself seemed to come alive!

Part of his magic pushed out of the window itself, into the frame, and wrapped itself up in the frame, correcting all of the marring and warping that was in it. The magic that was still in the glass itself corrected the window, making it match the new frame before it seemed to invert itself, as though it wasn't actually _attached_ to the window any longer but was still in the same place.

Harry cautiously felt for his magic, only to find it was no longer 'his' magic; instead it seemed to be a part of the window and frame. Slowly, he opened the window just slightly, only for a bright light to spill in. He quickly shut the window again.

"Bloody hell, I screwed up." Harry sighed. "Time to go find out how badly, maybe Madam Pomfrey can fix it quickly."

Leaving the room and rising up through the Void, Harry left there as well, but didn't open his eyes. Even with them closed, it seemed like there was a very high amount of light in the room. Gingerly, Harry opened his eyes, only to be blinded by the glaring light coming from everywhere, even the walls and floor. He slammed his eyes shut, but opening his eyes once seemed to have started a tidal wave, and the light grew in intensity, even through his closed eyes.

Harry threw an arm over his eyes, screaming out, "Too bright!"

His voice seemed to attract even more of the light, and two of the brightly lit shapes came a bit closer to him. "Get away!" Harry grabbed at the energy inside him, not caring if it was magic or Chi and pushed everything away from him.

Ron and Hermione, for that was who the two shapes had been, were flung half-way across the room and were barely caught by some of the older students. Ron immediately got up and ran to Harry.

Harry, only seeing the bright light getting closer to him, lashed out again, this time throwing Ron all the way to the staircase leading to the girls' dorm, which promptly sounded an alarm and turned into a slide, which slid Ron to the floor, dazed.

Harry fell to the ground, covering his eyes with both arms, groaning. "Too bright." He whimpered.

* * *

And now we learn why you really need to do things like this under supervision. Think Harry's going to learn his lesson?

Read and review!


	10. 9: Restored eyes, subdued sight

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: Yadda, yadda, yadda. Don't come bothering me about this, as I don't own it.

Chapter 9: Restored eyes, subdued sight.

* * *

As the alarms went off, loud enough to hear in all of the girls' dorms, Ginny looked around confused. "What's that?" 

"That's the stairs' alarm." One of her dorm mates answered. "A fifth year told me that goes off when a boy tries to climb the staircase." She grinned. "Come on, let's go see who got caught!" She got up off her bed and shot out the door.

Ginny laughed, closing her diary before getting up herself.

Halfway down the newly re-formed stairs, the alarm stopped. Confused, Ginny kept moving downwards. She found her brother Ron being supported by a couple of other students, and a loose crowd looking at something in the corner. After making sure her brother was actually okay, she looked towards the corner, trying to see what was happening.

Curious, she walked over, squeezing between people since as a first year she couldn't see over anyone's head.

As she got to the inner edge of the crowd, she gasped. Harry was in the corner, curled up into a ball with both of his arms covering his face.

"Harry? What happened to him?" Ginny whispered. After a few seconds passed she realized no one was doing anything; they were just standing there. She glared at the crowd, silently wondering why no one was trying to help him.

She rushed forward, not noticing the winces of the crowd or hearing Hermione's shout of, "No! Don't!"

0o0

The lights had apparently stopped coming any closer to him. That was a good thing, considering Harry didn't think he had much more energy to push them away. Even through shut eyes and both arms covering him, he could still see the lit shapes gathered around him, standing out against the background light of the room he was in, which he prayed was still the Gryffindor common room.

A voice sounding vaguely like Hermione's shouted, "No! Don't!" and Harry braced himself, thinking there was another something about to come at him.

Gathering up what remained of his energy, -and at this point he couldn't even tell the difference between his Chi and his magic- he readied himself to push another rushing shape away.

Suddenly, his vision was covered with a warm, vibrant color that wasn't harsh enough to hurt his eyes. A hand touched his arm.

"Harry?" the voice asked.

"Elly?" Harry whispered, and then shook his head. "Ginny? Is that you?"

The person gave a startled laugh. "At least you corrected yourself this time. What happened?"

He slowly dropped one arm, then the other before opening his eyes to look at Ginny. "I screwed up. What are all the lights for? And how come you're just a color?" Harry was sounding a little panicked. He then added in a softer voice, "Your color is bright, but it's not blinding me at least."

Before Ginny could say anything, another harsh light came around the edge of what he supposed was Ginny. Pushing out again, the shape stumbled back out of his view.

"Umm, Harry, what was that for?" Ginny asked cautiously.

Harry refocused his eyes again near the center of Ginny's shape before speaking. "I don't know what it was. But it hurts my eyes when it gets close to me. The light it makes is blinding."

Ginny giggled slightly. "That was Hermione."

Harry sighed. "Sorry then, Hermione."

"It's not a problem, I guess, Harry. At least you didn't throw me across the room like you did Ron." Hermione's voice said. "I guess we still can't get to close to you?"

He shook his head. "I messed something up, Hermione. Now everything is just a bright light. If that was you, then you're the really bright blue light. Ron's is like looking into the sun."

"What about me?" Ginny asked.

"You're bright too, but it's a warm red. I don't know why, but at least yours doesn't blind me." Harry sighed again, not daring to take his eyes off Ginny's shape. "Can you take me to the hospital wing, please?"

Ginny nodded, and Harry caught the movement of her shape. She then turned around and looked at Hermione. "Back up, please?"

Hermione did so, turning to the other students. "Everyone back up. Clear the way from here to the exit, please."

Unseen to Harry, everyone cleared a very large path through the common room. Ginny stood up with Harry behind her and walked towards the portrait. She then stopped for a moment, looking back at Harry. "Are you ok?"

Harry nodded unsteadily and put a hand on her shoulder. "Lead the way, please."

She grinned weakly before leading Harry out of the common room.

After they left, Hermione turned to face the rest of the room. "Umm, I really think Harry would appreciate if no one mentioned this to anyone else. Please?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The room was a chaotic mix of different colors, all blinding in their own way, Harry noticed with a quick glimpse around before refocusing back on Ginny. "We're in the Hospital Wing?"

"Yep." Ginny said. She then called out, "Madam Pomfrey?"

The thin, grey-haired matron stepped out of her office. "Yes? What seems to be the problem, child?"

Ginny paused, not sure how to explain.

After a few seconds of silence, Harry sighed. "I did something to my eyes, Madam Pomfrey. I can only see colored shapes, and the only one that isn't blinding me is Ginny."

"Oh dear. Come sit down on one of the beds, Mr. Potter." Harry did as requested, Ginny sitting across from him. She blushed as Harry's unseeing eyes focused on her.

Madam Pomfrey looked at Harry. "Alright, Mr. Potter. What spell were you trying to cast when it backfired? That will give me a starting place to work with."

"Umm…" Harry started, then paused. "I didn't cast a spell. Is it considered wandless magic if the magic never left me?"

"Pardon me?" Pomfrey said. "I think you need to explain in a little more detail. You didn't cast a spell?"

Harry sighed. "Short story? I was listening to Hermione and Ron talk about the Conjunctivis Curse, and thought I might be able to use magic to see through it if I got blinded. I pushed my magic into my eyes, and now all I see are really bright colors."

"So you're at the Corecas level, are you? That might make this a little more difficult." Pomfrey took a step between Harry and Ginny, holding her wand up.

Harry immediately put his arms over his eyes again. "You're too bright too." He whimpered.

Pomfrey immediately moved out of Harry's line of sight. He breathed a sigh of relief as she moved so he could refocus on the only thing in the room he could still bear to look at.

"What seems to be the matter, Poppy?" a voice asked from behind Harry.

"Headmaster. Mr. Potter seems to have blinded himself somehow." Pomfrey said from Harry's side. "What brought you down here?"

"I was curious to find out why the whole of the Gryffindor common room has been rearranged, along with a student setting off the dorm alarm." Dumbledore's voice was faintly amused. "I see now."

"I don't." grumbled Harry.

"Let's fix that then, Mr. Potter. I'm going to cast a diagnostic spell on your eyes from over here. Hold still, please."

With a murmured word, the magic left Pomfrey's wand and went toward Harry.

As the magic hit his eyes, Harry saw the almost ungodly bright light that was the spell. With a loud yell, he turned away from it, but not before it entered his eyes. He didn't feel anything change, but as he kept turning, he caught sight where the Headmaster was standing.

It was akin to staring into the sun, only the sun was just a single spot in the sky, and the Headmaster filled up his entire vision. With a sharp, pained groan, Harry grabbed at the last of the power in him. Chi, magic, it was all the same at the moment, and Harry pushed. And pushed again, as the almost impossibly bright light began to encompass him. He gave one final push with everything he had and was happy to see all the glowing lights around him move away, becoming smaller pinpoints that didn't hurt.

Then everything grew dim, and Harry collapsed on the bed he'd been braced against.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry slowly felt consciousness return to him. Everything was dark, which was a plus at this point. There was something covering his eyes and Harry slowly raised a hand to it.

"I wouldn't at the moment, Mr. Potter." A weary voice stated.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry recognized the voice. "What happened?"

"From what I can surmise from your descriptions and your reactions to people and spells, I think you've managed to enchant your eyes with a type of Mage Sight." Was the answer.

"Mage… Sight?" Harry asked. "How does that change everything to colors?"

"Not colors, Harry. Auras. You've been seeing everyone and everything's magical aura. And without the benefit of being able to see the person as well, or to turn it off. What you have over your eyes currently is a very specially made piece of nightcloth. Nightcloth is a mundane material that can block out any and all light, including that of auras."

"So I'm blind? With or without this thing? Just bloody great." Harry slumped down.

"I would certainly hope not. While eyes are one of the most delicate things in your body, as you did not use a wand to enchant them, it should be possible to reverse. After all, it is your magic that is doing this."

Harry winced. "I don't think it is, anymore. When it happened, I tried to take it back and the magic wouldn't react to me anymore." Harry laughed harshly. "Professor Maison is going to kill me."

Dumbledore's voice took on a partly confused, partly curious tone. "What would Professor Maison have anything to do with this?"

Harry sat up and faced towards the Headmaster's voice. "I was trying to learn to see Chi. I couldn't make it work using my cousin's way of doing it. So I tried to see with magic instead."

"I think," Dumbledore started slowly, "I will have Professor Maison join us then. Maybe a method he knows for fixing improper Chi Sight would be helpful for fixing your mistaken case of Mage Sight. I shall be back shortly." There was a shuffling sound, as Dumbledore stood. "You are still in the Hospital Wing, so if you need something, a call for Madam Pomfrey will bring her. It would probably have brought Ms. Weasley as well, had she not finally relented to going back to the common room."

And with that, the room was quiet again.

Harry sat there on the hard mattress, thinking about what he'd done. _Well, if I'm going to screw it up, might as well do it completely. Wonder how long I'll be in here._ Putting a hand on the cloth, he slowly pulled it down enough to see around the room.

Everything magical had been moved far away from the bed he was sitting on, leaving only the stones of the castle itself as the closest source of magic. After a few moments of watching the walls Harry was forced to cover his eyes again

Still, the quietness of the room was beginning to creep him out. "Madam Pomfrey?"

After a short moment, Harry heard movement and then her voice. "Yes, Mr. Potter? What can I do for you?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm sorry, it was just too quiet. It was kind of disturbing."

"Oh, you poor dear. I should have considered sensory deprivation. Would you like to listen to the wireless?"

Harry nodded, not quite sure what would be on, but anything would be better than the maddening silence. She turned it on, leaving Harry listening to someone the announcer called Celina Warbeck.

He sat there, focused on the wireless, until he felt a touch on his senses. Frowning, Harry ignored the wireless to focus more on the sensation. It was moving closer and seemed familiar. Harry turned to face it and heard someone enter the room. "Professor Maison?"

A short chuckle. "At least you didn't burn out your ability to sense Chi when you were messing around." Professor Maison then sighed. "Harry, what am I going to do with you? I told you I was going to have to talk to your Sensei about how to train you to see Chi. I would have thought you would realize that meant don't try it on your own."

Harry hung his head. "I know, but Dudley managed it, and he even put a description as to how he did it. I thought I could use his description."

"Be that as it may, we'll talk about that later. The Headmaster hopes I can help you with what you've done. But instead of seeing Chi, you see nothing but magic?" Professor Maison asked. Harry nodded, not saying anything. "Well, that sounds approximately the same as when a student messes up their Chi Sight."

"So it is fixable?" Dumbledore's voice came from near Maison. "I would hate to have him try to re-enchant his eyes just to stop it."

"That's the problem with Chi, you can't add more to the mix or you'll really mess things up." Maison said to Dumbledore and then directed his voice to Harry. "Mr. Potter. What you've done, if it's anything like Chi Sight, has permanently altered your way of seeing. When you do it with Chi, you set Chi Sight as the natural way you view the world. You were supposed to set limits on it, but didn't. I think that's what you've done with your magic as well."

Dumbledore spoke up, his voice joining the conversation. "I see. So using Chi, or in this case magic, to try to fix the problem would most likely reinforce the type of Sight as the natural state."

"Correct, Headmaster." Harry felt the end of the bed move as someone sat on it. "We can't completely fix it, but we can change it to where you can see again. You'll always have the Sight though, just not enough to completely blind you to the rest of the world. It's going to be hard work, and it's going to take you at least a few days to get to the point where you will be able to function for class."

"As long as I can see even somewhat normally again, I don't care how long it takes." Harry vehemently said.

"Good, good." Maison's voice was now lighter. "Professor Dumbledore, care to watch? I've seen you use Mage Sight before."

"I wouldn't mind, thank you. I'll sit over here though."

Harry felt a tap on his shoulder, and faced Maison again. "Now, what I want you to do, Mr. Potter, is go back into the Void, back into the windowed room where you found how to see. Look at the window and then come back and tell me if you see anything strange about it."

"OK." Harry quickly slipped into the Void and was surprised that with only a moment's thought, found himself back inside the room. With the nightcloth covering his eyes, he expected to find the whole room dark. Instead, he could see the magic rapidly swirling around in the glass window, casting a silver glow throughout the area.

"I think that's what Professor Maison was saying about something strange." Harry laughed to himself, before leaving both the room and the Void.

"Professor Maison?" Harry asked, still behind the nightcloth.

"We're still here. What did you find?"

"Magic swirling through the glass, moving really fast. It lit up the whole room."

"Very interesting…" Dumbledore murmured.

"Regardless of how interesting it may be, Headmaster, I'd still like to get it fixed for him." Maison said.

Dumbledore chuckled softly. "I meant no offense, Lawrence. It was just a statement of fact."

"My apologies then." Maison said, as he redirected his attention to Harry. "Now, what I want you to do is go back there and stop the magic from moving. Don't do it with more magic, don't do it with Chi. It's all a force of your willpower, and it will put a drain on you mentally. Once you get it to stop, keep it stopped and leave the Void. Then we'll test to see how well you can see."

Without a word, Harry once again brought the Void around him. He noticed the flame was burning brightly with all the trepidation he was feeding it, but Harry centered himself and found himself again in the room.

"Now, I just have to make it stop moving without magic or Chi? Just make it happen, huh?" Harry looked around the bare room, hoping to find some sort of clue as to how he was supposed to do it. He didn't find one.

"Well…" Harry trailed off. "How about this? Magic, stop!" Harry shouted at it. He then laughed as the swirling seemed to hiccup for a moment before going about again. Saying stop a few more times made the magic hiccup again and again but didn't keep it stopped.

"How about stop for five minutes?" Harry tried. At the word stop, it paused in another hiccup before continuing on, ignoring the rest of what he'd said. "Halt. Cease. Desist. Quit moving." Each time, the magic only stumbled and hiccupped before moving again.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, bloody stay still!" Harry yelled at it in frustration a few minutes later.

Immediately, it stopped.

"That wasn't so hard, I guess. Just needed the right words." Harry laughed, and then staggered as it felt like he had an extra hundred pounds added to him. Staggering about in the room, he managed to push the feeling away from him, only to find the magic starting to move again as soon he wasn't burdened anymore.

"Alright, alright. I get it. That's the drain Professor Maison was talking about." Harry cursed. "Wonder what it feels like outside here?" Looking at the swirling magic, Harry braced himself. "Stay still!" He yelled at it, causing it to quit moving and the weight to again fall upon him.

Better prepared for it this time, Harry didn't stagger when it hit him. Instead, he left the room and the Void with the weight still holding onto him.

Opening his eyes, he still saw nothing because of the nightcloth. "Professor Maison? Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry took a deep breath. "I think I managed it. It felt like something added a hundred extra pounds to me while I was in there."

"And now?" Maison queried.

Harry's voice was slower, considering. "Umm. Now it doesn't feel like a weight, but like I'm thinking about something else as well. I have to think about what I want to say more before I can actually say it."

"That would be the mental drain I told you about. Eventually, and probably quickly this time, it will get too much to bear and you'll have to push it away. And then your Mage Sight will come back in full force. Take off the cloth, see if you get blinded. I'm sitting away from Professor Dumbledore, so it shouldn't blind you if you look at me."

Nodding, Harry turned to face where Maison's voice had come from. He slowly lifted the nightcloth away from his face with his eyes open. No blinding light struck him this time, and he was able to see the Muggle Studies teacher.

"You've got a glow around you." Harry laughed.

"That would be his aura, only you can see Professor Maison as well." Dumbledore said from behind Harry.

Harry turned to face the Headmaster, not noticing Maison wince at what might be coming. Harry blinked a few times, before his eyes focused. "Yours is a lot brighter, sir. It was like walking out from the dungeons into the day."

Maison laughed at the analogy. "At least you didn't attack him this time."

"This time? What'd I do before?" Harry looked between the two professors.

"I can do wandless magic, Harry. When I walked into the Hospital Wing earlier and you saw me, you instinctively pushed me away when my aura was too bright for you. It was my natural reaction to push back. You were braced against your bed, I was not. Once I had hold of my reaction, you pushed me away before I could move on my own, draining yourself and causing you to black out. Do not worry about it."

Harry nodded slightly, then paused. "Wait a second. I'm not wearing my glasses. How can I see?"

"Ah, that would be a side effect of using such magic on your eyes. You corrected your vision so that you wouldn't need them anymore. Not something I suggest trying." Dumbledore explained to him. "Now, I've excused you from your classes for the next few days. Rest here. Once you are able to hold your vision for an hour or so, Madam Pomfrey will allow you to go back to Gryffindor Tower. Once you can hold it long enough for two classes consecutively, you may return to class."

"Yes sir, thank you." Harry quietly said.

"Quite. Now, I think I shall be off, before your martial arts teacher scolds you." Dumbledore laughed as Harry's head whipped up to face him, then turned to face Maison, who was nodding. He then left the Hospital Wing.

"Now, for your punishment." Maison started.

Harry made a timeout gesture with his hands, interrupting. "Wait a second, isn't this punishment enough?"

"Not particularly. As long as you can keep it under control, you're walking away lucky and with the benefit of being able to see magic constantly. Besides, you admitted to playing around trying Chi Sight while I was awaiting a response from Citan. I will not stop you from coming to lessons, as that would be counter-productive. Your punishment will be starting as soon as you return to class. Your choice of time, but either every morning before breakfast or after dinner, you will come find me so that I may watch you run from the main doors to the Quidditch Pitch and back twice, for the next month."

Harry gave him a sick look.

"And I do mean run. You know what your Sensei's rule is, do not make me invoke it. I have very little doubt that you would lose trying to force your rule-breaking on me."

Harry nodded, repeating the rule to himself. "Rule 3. 'My word is law, you don't like it, fight to make a change.' Yes sir, Professor Maison."

* * *

Whee, done! OMFG, I can't believe it. Sorry it took so long people. I'm blaming school, Elder Scrolls 4(not beat yet), and Kingdom Hearts 2(beat it!) on it. In that order, since that's the order they interfered. 

Read and review, please?


	11. 10 Halloween, I'm beginning to loath you

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: Author looks around, doesn't notice any piles of money. See, that means I don't own this stuff.

Chapter 10: Halloween, I'm beginning to loath you

* * *

Harry sat down on the stone steps leading into Hogwarts, breathing heavily.

"Not bad." Maison looked at his watch. "I think you've managed to get a bit faster in the past two weeks."

Harry laughed ruefully, gulping air. "Yeah…but you could still run laps around me."

"I have much more stamina than you as I've been doing runs like this for most of my life. Punishments need to teach you something, or they're worthless." Maison sat down on the steps next to Harry. "You can go in now, I think I'll sit out here a while longer."

"Alright, Professor." Harry stood up and looked at the sky. "It looks like it's going to rain tomorrow, can I do my run in the morning before it does?"

"As you wish. I won't cut you any slack though if you're tired. So I suggest you don't stay up all night."

"Thanks Professor Maison." Harry wearily walked through the doors back into Hogwarts.

Climbing the stairs, Harry closed his eyes to assess his eyes. The draining, heavy feeling of keeping his vision usable was noticeable at the moment, but he figured he had a few more hours before he'd be forced to rest.

After a few minutes of walking he stood before the portrait guarding the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

"Password?" He heard its female voice ask.

"Audentes Fortuna Juvat" Harry watched as the golden-hued portrait swung open, admitting him into the common room. "Eventually I'm going to be able to actually see you again. I hate not being able to see the pictures." He laughed to himself quietly as he walked into the room.

Harry blinked a few times and then shook his head as a kaleidoscope of colors from the room hit him before his eyes adjusted. "That still hurts." Spotting familiar auras was easier then finding a friendly face in this crowd, so Harry looked around at the different auras. Grinning as he spotted the warm red one, he walked over.

She was playing Gobstones with another one of the first years as he walked up behind her.

"Winning or losing, Elly?" Harry asked.

She calmly reached for another Gobstone without answering, turning it to face herself. Giving it a vicious squeeze, she ducked her head to the side as the stream of goo shot over her shoulder and hit Harry full in the face. "I think I'm in the lead."

Harry wiped his face off, managing to get two handfuls of the goo off his face. "You know, at times like these, I wish I still needed glasses. At least I wouldn't have gotten this junk in my eyes. Thanks Ginny, for the reminder." He laughed.

"It was nothing." She shrugged it off. "Anyone would have helped."

Though the tone of voice was different, the wording was almost exactly the same as it had been two weeks ago when he'd been let out of the hospital wing.

_**FLASHBACK:**_

_Harry stumbled into the common room, the weight in his mind already starting to feel much heavier. Maybe he'd left a little too soon?_

'_The common room was a riot of color. From the students, the portraits, the furniture, the fireplace, even the games and some of the homework; colors somehow came from it all, both conflicting and mixing in with each other, all the while set against the ever-present off-white color that was the castle itself._

_He closed his eyes, groaning. Definitely too soon. A few people in the Hospital Wing was nothing compared to the several dozen Gryffindors lounging around. The colors then seemed to fade away into a warm red hue and Harry opened his eyes._

_Mostly obscured by her aura, Harry was still able to somewhat make out a face. "Elly?"_

_She sighed. "Ginny."_

_He nodded, as she started to get clearer in his vision, her aura fading to be more even, instead of blotting her out. "Thanks for the reminder. I owe you big time, Ginny; you got me to the Hospital Wing so I could get my eyes fixed. That was a huge favor, and I aim to repay it. All you have to do is ask, and I'll do my best to do it."_

_She blushed. "It was nothing." She whispered shyly. "Anyone would have helped you."_

_**END FLASHBACK:**_

Harry grinned. "Let me at least repay you this favor, Ginny." He held his cupped hands over her head.

"If you drop that stuff in my hair, you might live long enough to regret it, Harry." She said calmly, watching the other girl make her move.

Still grinning, Harry brought his magic into his hands, infusing the goo with his magic. _Let's see… Thinner._ The thick goo slowly thinned out. _Clear, and not sticky._ Again the liquid in his hands followed his mental commands, clearing up until he could see his hands through it and it didn't feel like it was stuck to his hands anymore. _Looks like water now, and shouldn't leave anything._ "_Stabilis."_ he whispered, watching the new water shimmer.

"What'd you say?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, nothing." Harry laughed as he opened his hands, water dumping onto her head, before backing up very quickly.

"HARRY POTTER!" Ginny stood up, eyes flashing.

"It was only water." Harry held his hands up in a defensive position, also showing her that none of the Gobstone goo was on his hands.

Her hands immediately went to her hair, only to come away wet, but goo-less. "You… you… BOY!" Ginny turned and stormed up the stairs, apparently intent on drying her hair before someone had the bright idea to try reversing the transfiguration.

Turning around, Harry looked over the room and found his two friends. Nodding to them, he walked over, crashing down into the seat next to Ron. "I'm bushed."

"Didn't look like it. You got Ginny back good." Ron grinned widely.

"That was magic. Physically, I'm beat."

"Um, Harry." Hermione started. "You did that wandlessly."

"Yeah, so?" Harry shrugged, falling back deeper into the couch while staring into the fire.

"You're getting a bunch of stares from the upper class students." Hermione quietly said, as she looked back over the couch.

Harry groaned, and then felt a hand clap his shoulder.

"Interesting show, Potter." Oliver Wood's voice could be heard saying. "I'd love to find out how you did it, but we've got more important things to discuss. As tomorrow is Saturday, I'm holding an early morning practice. Seven AM sharp. I suggest you get some sleep soon."

Harry groaned again. "Oliver, it's supposed to rain tomorrow."

"Doesn't matter. We'd play a match in the rain, so you'll practice in the rain. I'm turning in, you were the last one I needed to pass the message along to." Saying that, Oliver let go of Harry and walked up the stairs to the dorms.

"Great. Just great. I'm dead." Harry dropped his head into his hands.

"It's just a practice mate, nothing too horrible." Ron tried to cheer him up.

Harry shook his head. "I asked Professor Maison if we could change my run to tomorrow morning as well, hopefully before the rain."

"You had best get to bed then, Harry. Unless you fancy falling asleep on your broom." Hermione smiled. "I'll drag Ron and Ginny to Professor Maison's classroom in the morning. You weren't going to have us do anything different tomorrow, were you?"

"No. And good night then." Harry stood up, yawning and stretching. He followed the steps of Oliver, going up the boys' staircase, stopping at his own dorm room. Quickly changing, he slid into bed after setting his alarm. Grabbing the nightcloth from the stand, Harry pulled it over his eyes and let go of his concentration, allowing his eyes to return to the full Mage sight..

Immediately he felt the weight relax, but with the cloth over his eyes nothing blinded him. Lying back, he closed his eyes and sunk into a deep sleep.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry awoke early the next morning to the evil buzzing of his alarm. Reaching out, he silenced the clock with a heavy slap on the snooze button, before rolling back over.

Five minutes later, it went off again.

Harry slowly sat up, reaching out and fumbling with the clock, properly turning it off this time. "Stupid magical clocks, moving the off button. Makes it even harder to turn them off when I can't see it." Yawning, Harry entered the Void for a moment. With minimal effort, he slid into the window room and stopped the swirling magic. It was becoming easier to get to at this point, and the weight seemed to be becoming familiar. He hoped that meant he'd eventually not have to constantly fight for his own vision.

Pulling the nightcloth off, he looked around the room. It was quiet, with the pre-dawn light just starting to peek into tower room.

Checking the clock, Harry groaned. "Five-thirty in the morning. Too bloody early for a weekend."

Running through a cold shower to wake himself up, Harry quickly dressed in clothes suitable for running. Walking downstairs, he forlornly looked at the empty Great Hall where breakfast wasn't even being served yet. "Way too early. No food even."

Walking out the doors, he found Professor Maison already waiting for him. Maison threw him a couple of biscuits, which Harry grabbed and nodded gratefully before quickly eating them.

"Ready to go then?" Maison asked. Harry nodded. "Think you'll make it there and back twice before your Quidditch practice?"

Harry looked at him, startled. "How'd you know about that?"

Maison shrugged. "Mr. Wood flew past here about fifteen minutes ago to warm up on the pitch. It wasn't that hard to guess he was going to make the rest of you practice as well."

"Right." Harry sighed. "Well, guess I'd better get running then."

Starting off at a jog, Harry made his way towards the Quidditch pitch, slowly picking up speed.

Forty-five minutes later, Harry dropped to the ground in front of Hogwarts, breathing deeply.

Maison looked at him for a moment, before turning. There was a pop and Harry looked up to find a House-elf handing a goblet of water to the Professor. The creature turned and offered another to Harry, who took it gratefully. After taking a long drink from it, he handed it back to the House-elf. "Thanks."

The elf started, before bowing and disappearing.

"Now Harry, I do believe you only have ten or fifteen minutes at the most to get back to the Quidditch pitch for your practice. Have a good morning." Maison finished, before walking back into the school.

Harry looked between the pitch and the now closed door Maison had walked through, and then back to the pitch again. Groaning, he stood up and started jogging back to the pitch. "At least it's not a full out run." He laughed to himself, but quickly stopped as he felt something hit his head. Looking up, he was able to watch as rain starting falling from the sky.

o0o

"Was there a purpose to running him ragged before his practice, Lawrence?" A voice asked Maison as he stood at a window, watching the rain and the small figures on the Quidditch pitch.

"Hmm?" Maison turned to get a look at the speaker. "Punishment is punishment, even if it does help him in the long run. Why would you care about any student in particular, anyways? Your classes are usually harsh on all the students Miang."

The DADA instructor gave him a disturbing smile. "There are many things out there in this world that are to be feared. I teach them how to remove those fears. A taste of blood goes a long way to enforcing my lessons." She looked out over the grounds towards the pitch. "That one intrigues me though. He survived that which he shouldn't have been able to, and goes on still. Challenges like your punishment are something to overcome. I have not yet found something that daunts him. He is my challenge."

Maison turned slightly to gaze at her. "Interesting to know."

"I do have a question for you though. Did he choose a weapon or did you choose for him?"

Maison turned to her fully, confusion written on his face. "Not that it should be any matter of yours I would think, but he chose his own weapon."

Miang cast one last glace out the window, then moved away. Maison heard her voice as she walked away, muttering to herself. "Odd. This is the first time he's ever chosen a weapon that I know of."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry trudged back into the castle, dripping wet from the rain. Looking back, he sighed. "Oliver, someone's going to end up killing you over that practice." Harry smiled and shook his head at his own words, and continued on for a moment before startling and stepping back.

The cat in front of him hissed before darting off, most likely in search of its master.

"Bugger.Mrs. Norris." Harry turned and saw the long trail of water and mud leading from the entrance to himself. "And with my luck, Filch'll be here in a minute." Grabbing his wand from inside his robes, Harry hesitated. "I don't know any cleaning spells… crap. Come on... think! Sensei said it wasn't the words." Concentrating and channeling a somewhat large amount of his magic into his wand, Harry waved it at the mess, an image in mind of all the water and mud pulled together. "Clean up!" he shouted at the mud.

He felt and saw his magic leave his wand, spreading out to cover the mud and muck, before it seemed to drop down and infuse it. The mess suddenly jumped off the floor, and compacted itself into a basketball-sized sphere which hovered in front of him. Harry sighed. "You couldn't have just disappeared, could you?" Before he could figure out a way to do it, he heard the sound of someone quickly running towards him.

"Alright then, outta sight!" Jerking his wand up, Harry levitated the ball much closer to the ceiling just in time for Filch to come charging around the corner.

"Got you now, you miserable miscreant!" Filch shouted, only to pause as he noticed the lack of any evidence. He narrowed his eyes further and stared accusingly as Harry. "What's the meanin' of this?"

Harry turned around, wand held behind his back. Very carefully, he pushed a bit of his own magic at the hovering ball of mud still high in the air, taking over the spell from his wand. "Sir?"

"Casting in the halls, are we? And just what were you settin' up?" Filch scowled at him.

"Nothing sir." Harry showed Filch his wand. "Want to see my wand?" Harry held it out.

Filch snatched it from his hand, looking it over carefully. Harry laughed to himself as he didn't see Filch actually do anything with it. Finally Filch shoved it back at him with a grumbled, "Don't let me catch you tryin' anything."

Harry nodded, and then grinned as Filch turned his back to walk away. "Mr. Filch?"

"What?" He asked as he turned around.

"As tomorrow's Halloween: Trick or Treat?"

"Don't bother me with your nonsense." Filch started walking away again.

Harry just smiled. "Trick it is then," he whispered. Carefully he moved the ball of mud to float over the cat who was still watching him suspiciously. "Happy Halloween, Mrs. Norris." Harry let go of the ball of mud, turned, and ran for the nearest exit away from Filch. He had just made it through when he heard a loud squall come from the cat.

Laughing, Harry hurried up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower and the safety of his common room.

He managed to make it there without any further mishaps and after giving the password to the Fat Lady's portrait, calmly walked inside. He saw Hermione and Ron sitting at a table, with her apparently explaining something to him.

Considering how attentive Ron was being, Hermione was either talking about Quidditch, -_Not likely,_- or she was explaining a spell to him that he considered would actually be useful. _Probably a spell_.

Walking over to them, Hermione spotted him and waved him over. "Come here, Harry. I found a spell you might like. Ron does at least."

Ron grinned his agreement. "Definitely fun. We can probably use it in DADA too."

Harry sat down, looking at Hermione. "So, what is it?"

"'Flagrate'. It leaves trails of fire in the air for a while. When I tried it, they stayed for almost ten minutes." Hermione explained. "When you cast it, you only have to use a half turn of your wrist. You just have to keep your wrist turned while you're making the trail. Moving too quick, or relaxing your wrist ends the spell with whatever fire you've already cast."

Ron pointed to the fireplace. Harry looked closer at it, and could see hovering above the actual flames, was the burning traces of what looked about like a Snitch.

Harry laughed. "You drew that, Ron?"

"Yeah. Had to be careful, since we didn't want to leave them where you could bump into them. Hermione wasn't sure if you touching it would burn you, and I didn't feel like testing it. That one's been there almost ten minutes now."

Harry pulled out his own wand and muttered the incantation while channeling his magic, twisting his wrist and watching as the tip of his wand lit up red in his sight. As he slowly moved his wand, he watched the magic stay behind and actually seemed to catch fire, leaving the trails of fire Hermione had been talking about.

"Odd. I can still see some magic in the fire-trail I made, but I couldn't see any in yours Ron." Harry stopped the spell and took a closer look at Ron's design. "Oh, there it is. It's almost gone. Looks like it's actually burning the magic instead of wood. Yours is almost gone Ron, so that's why I didn't see it at first."

Harry looked up to see Hermione frantically thumbing through a book, before she looked back at Harry and nodded. "That's what it says. The magic is consumed slowly to create a lasting fire. If it didn't do that, it would disappear almost as quickly as you created it."

"So what's its use in DADA?" Harry asked.

"Messing with people." Ron said with a grin that wouldn't look out of place on the twins. "If you surround them with some fire, even if it doesn't really burn, I wouldn't touch it to find that out. Would you?"

"True." Harry thought for a moment. "I hit you with Aqueous once before to wake you up though. Wouldn't that put the fire out?"

Hermione flipped to the next page of her book, scanning it. "It shouldn't. Or at least not after the water passes through the trail. The magic is still there, so it should relight the fire. Though, it does say that by doing that, it would really shorten how long the fire would last. It takes more magic to relight the fire than to keep it lit."

"Sounds good then. You guys show this to Ginny too?" Harry asked.

"At least you got her name right this time, Harry." Ron laughed.

Hermione shook her head though. "I asked her. She said she didn't feel like it, she just wanted to go upstairs. I didn't argue."

Harry shrugged. "Not a problem, if she doesn't want help we can't force it on her." He then switched subjects. "Did you guys practice the Void today?"

"Yeah." Ron seemed excited again. "I managed to bring it up almost immediately today. Hermione timed me; it took less than a minute."

"Great." Harry smiled. He then turned to Hermione. "How long did it take you?"

"About two and a half minutes, according to Ron. We're still using the original empty spaces though. I thought it'd be easier to work with what we're already able to do." Hermione explained.

Harry thought about it for a moment. "That's a good idea. Ginny's was really small, so how'd she do?"

Hermione looked at a piece of parchment where she'd written down something. "Immediately. So she was working on making it bigger, and was still be able to do it nearly as fast. That's probably why she didn't want to practice anything else today."

"Good to hear. Once you guys are able to make the Void immediately and the right size, we can start looking for your magical core."

"Yes!" Ron half-shouted. "I've gotta work harder then. I'm getting bored of staring at the back of my eyelids." Harry and Hermione both laughed. "Anyways. How'd practice go, Harry?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"I know it's Halloween and everything, but I didn't think Hogwarts had this many ghosts. Where'd they dig them all up?" Harry asked as he, Ron, and Hermione all walked downstairs for the Halloween feast.

Hermione giggled and Ron laughed. Harry looked at them, confused, until he thought back over his words. "Sorry, excuse the pun. But where did they all come from?" He repeated as they were forced to dodge yet another ghost or have to walk through it.

"The best thing to do when you don't know, is ask." Hermione said. As there were several ghosts milling about, Hermione stopped in front of one. "Excuse me."

The ghost she addressed turned around. "Yes my dear?" He looked to be in his late forties when he died, most likely violently if the wooden shafts with small feathers on the ends sticking out of his chest were any indication.

"We haven't seen you at Hogwarts before. Did the Headmaster ask all of you to come for our Halloween feast?" Hermione questioned him.

The ghost chuckled. "No my dear, your Headmaster did not. Sir Nicholas is having his Deathday party tonight in the dungeons and we've all been invited. Odd ghost that he is, he even opened it to the mortals. Does that answer your question?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, and thank you." With that, she turned around and walked back to Harry and Ron. "As easy as that. Although, a Deathday party sounds interesting. Since it's open to the living we could go. Do you want to?"

Ron shook his head. "I want to go to the feast, I'm hungry."

Harry shrugged. "Either way."

"Come on Ron. It's a party. Parties have food too. And it's bound to be interesting. Think of all the ghosts you could meet." Hermione pleaded with Ron.

"What do I care about ghosts? Bunch of dead people. I probably won't know any of them anyways. Tell ya what; I'll go eat at the feast and then come down afterwards, alright?"

Hermione nodded, accepting the compromise, and turned to Harry. "OK. Harry, you want to come?"

"Sure, why not? We'll catch up with you later Ron." Harry waved at Ron as the two of them turned towards a staircase that led to the dungeons.

"I'll see you two later." Ron said, hurrying himself down their original path to find dinner in the Great Hall.

o0o

As Harry and Hermione started walking down the stairs to the dungeons, Harry looked at Hermione. "Which dungeon, anyways? I doubt it's the potions dungeon and there are several more."

Hermione blushed. "I didn't think to ask. The ghost just said the dungeons. Guess we'll just have to try to get lucky and hear them. Come on."

They walked for several more minutes, each trying to catch sight of another ghost to give them directions to the party. Instead, they heard the sound of water rushing, followed by a loud screech from an animal which was quickly cut off.

Looking at each other, they moved a little quicker towards the sound. Coming around the corner onto the second floor, Harry almost slipped on the huge amount of water spilled everywhere. Looking around, he had to close his mouth and hold his stomach in an attempt to not lose what little he'd eaten already that day.

Hermione didn't throw up either. Instead, she covered her mouth in a gasp, before letting out an ear-piercing scream that echoed up and down the stairs.

In front of the two students was a bloody mess. The front half of Mrs. Norris, and written on the wall in what was presumably the cat's blood, was a message:

_**The Chamber of Secrets has been opened! Enemies of the Heir beware!**_

Hermione only stopped screaming long enough to take a breath before letting out another scream, this one loud enough to actually threaten Harry's hearing. Placing a hand over her mouth, it startled her enough to where she stopped screaming.

"We need to find someone and tell them about this. Now." Harry said, his own face pale.

Hermione nodded slowly, her eyes not leaving the body of Mrs. Norris. "D-d-d-d- dead." She managed to stutter out.

Harry looked back at the body of Mrs. Norris, his face having taken on a greenish hue. "I know. Come on."

Harry managed to get her turned around but they hadn't moved a foot when the sound of many footsteps could be heard on the stairs coming up. The Headmaster, Professors McGonagall and Snape, and Filch all came to the landing.

Hermione ripped herself away from Harry and threw herself at McGonagall, sobbing. "It's d-d-d-d- dead Professor!" Hermione buried her head into the Professor's robes, bawling.

Harry, seeing his friend in the arms of their bewildered Head of House, fell to the floor himself and starting breathing rapidly and heavily, making sure he was turned away from the whole scene.

Filch was the first one to spot what had so seriously disturbed the two students. "Mrs. Norris?" He asked in a whimper. Dropping to his knees and looking at his cat, he took a great, shuddering breath, then turned back to glare at Harry and Hermione.

Hermione just wailed louder as McGonagall held onto her student, not able to do anything else.

Dumbledore crouched down in front of Harry, touching him on the shoulder. Harry flinched, but looked up. "Mr. Potter… Harry. What happened, do you know?"

"Yes Potter, do tell us what you've done here." Snape drawled.

Harry's head whipped around, and he glared at his potions teacher. "I didn't do anything, _Sir_, and I'll swear to it on anything you want me to."

Snape took a step back at Harry's vehemence and then nodded. "No need to do that. If you're willing to, I will assume you didn't."

Harry took a deep breath and looked at his Headmaster before speaking. "We were going down to Nick's Deathday party. One of the ghosts said he'd opened it to the living. We just heard the cat scream and then found this." Harry pointed behind him, not daring to look back again.

Dumbledore nodded and then stood up. He looked at McGonagall who still held the crying Hermione. "Please take Miss Granger back to her room, if you would?" McGonagall nodded and led the crying girl away. He then looked to Filch. "Go back to your own room as well, Argus. I'll ask the House-elves to clean this up."

Filch stood up and gave his cat a last glance, before walking away himself.

Snape looked again at the body and then at the wall. He read the message slowly, before speaking up. "And the message, Albus?"

Harry looked between the two.

"I will take every possible precaution against it." Dumbledore told him.

Snape nodded. "And you know my position in this." He then looked to Harry. "Potter, I think it is high time you returned to your own common room. Do you require assistance? I will have a House-Elf help you if you need it."

Harry stood up slowly. "That's alright Professor." He slowly walked away, the scene firmly engraved in his mind. At the last moment, he stopped. "Headmaster?" Dumbledore turned. "Ron was supposed to meet us at the party. Can you tell him not to for me?"

"I will make sure he receives the message, Harry."

* * *

Hooray, 4500 words. Anyways, as to the reason Harry and Hermione were so traumatized, I can't spell it out and keep a Teen rating. Just consider that it wasn't a clean half of Mrs. Norris.

Read and review, folks!


	12. 11: Help Intended, not welcome

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: I own several things, but none of them have to do with copyright and trademark.

A/N: Gee, I'm just turning them out. I'm on a roll, don't know how long it'll last. Thanks for reading.

Chapter 11: Help intended, not taken, not welcome.

* * *

Harry slowly walked into the Great Hall the next morning, yawning, his eyes bleary, and hair even messier then normal. Looking towards the Gryffindor table he saw amidst the usual chaos of auras, the soft red that signified Ginny was there. Right near her were the auras of Ron and Hermione, so he moved towards them to find himself a seat.

Sitting down next to Ron and across from Ginny, he yawned again before starting to fill his plate.

"You ok, mate? You were tossing and turning all night. About kept the rest of us up." Ron asked.

Harry quietly finished filling his plate before he looked at Ron. "It was disgusting, Ron. I had nightmares all night I think."

"I didn't sleep well at all, either." Hermione added quietly, her voice distant. "Professor McGonagall told me I could talk to her if I needed to about it. She'd probably say the same to you Harry. I think I'm going to take her up on the offer."

"I probably don't want to know, but what happened?" Ron asked, looking at his two friends with concern.

Harry gave him a strange look. "You're right, but you didn't go to look? I would have thought you would after hearing about it."

Ron shrugged. "By the time I got there, Professor Dumbledore and Flitwick had put up some sort of privacy charm that made everything so blurry you couldn't tell what happened. I think Filch was still behind it, but we couldn't hear anything."

"A privacy charm?" Hermione asked, the idea catching her interest. "I wonder how it would be done…" She trailed off, thinking of the subject, apparently glad for the distraction.

"She didn't die gently." Ginny added softly.

Harry quickly looked over at her. "What?"

"Mrs. Norris. She didn't die gently."

Harry's face saddened, upon realizing she witnessed the scene from the night before as well. "You saw it too, I guess?"

She nodded. "I was one of the first ones to get there, before Professor Dumbledore cast that charm." She shuddered. "There was… so much blood."

Hermione nodded, understanding the feeling. "You want to talk to Professor McGonagall with me, Ginny?"

"I'm here as well. I don't know what I can do, but I can listen if you want." Harry said, wanly smiling at her.

Ginny started at that.

Harry shrugged. "I owe you, but that's not what it is. We're friends, right?" Harry continued on without waiting for an answer. "I saw it too, so it's not like I'd be any more grossed out about it than I already am."

Ginny smiled back at them slightly. "Thanks."

"It's not a problem." Harry said, nodding. Hermione and Ron voiced their agreement.

Harry was about to say something else, when a flicker in Ginny's aura caught his eye. "What was that?" He whispered to himself. Slowly he released some of the pressure holding back his Mage Sight, letting the auras of the room become stronger.

Harry frowned as he saw several thin, sickly green lines running through her aura. Concentrating again to move further out of the Sight, he looked at Ginny again. Now that he knew they were there, they were even slightly visible without using more of the Mage Sight.

"Are you sick, Ginny?" Harry asked, obviously concerned.

"Huh? No, not really. Exhausted, but I don't think I'm sick." Ginny answered with a little confusion.

"You've got some weird streaks of green in your aura. I don't think I've ever seen them before."

Ginny now looked somewhat concerned and patted herself, seemingly trying to feel her aura with her hands. "I don't feel sick."

"Maybe you're getting sick and Harry can see it happening?" Ron said, putting a hold on his gorging long enough to join the conversation. "You never feel sick until the worst of it hits, Ginny."

"Should you go see Madam Pomfrey then?" Hermione asked.

Ginny shook her head. "I don't think she could do anything if I'm not sick yet." She shrugged. "If I get sick, I get sick. I'll have to drink horrible tasting potions eventually and I'd really like to not do it today."

Harry laughed a little. "I can understand that. Just don't get too sick, alright?"

"Sure. I'll try not to."

The fluttering of wings caught their attention, and they looked up to see the mail owls flying into the Hall. Not seeing Hedwig flying in to steal some of his bacon, Harry turned back to his food only to find a letter drop into his lap a minute later.

Surprised, he looked up but couldn't tell which of the multitude of owls had dropped it off. Shrugging, he looked at the envelope.

_H. Potter_

_Great Hall_

_Gryffindor Table_

After having read the addressee, Harry looked up at his friends. "Are these things charmed or something? It's written for exactly where I'm at."

"Yeah. There's a charm Mum casts on her letters before she gives them to our owl if she wants it immediately delivered. If you don't, the owl just drops it off wherever it considers your home. It probably had to be charmed to get to you here, instead of going back to your Muggle aunt and uncle." Ron said, taking a break from eating. "Who'd send you a letter though?"

"Dunno." Harry opened the envelope.

_Mr. Potter,_

_This will probably be my first and last letter to you for a very long time. I hope you had or will have a good Halloween as I'm not sure when this will get to you. Your classmates have finally learned to see Chi so I will be leaving for my home. Normally this is where I would yell at you for your mistake, but Professor Maison has done an adequate job of that I think. Instead, I will give you some advice. Third years are to take two extra electives, which they choose at the end of their second year. Regardless of what you choose for your second elective, I strongly suggest you take Ancient Runes. It is a very interesting class and you would do well in it, I think._

_I must go now, but I am curious. Has your friend Miss Granger ascertained the trick to the book I gave her, so she may learn from it?_

_Sensei Uzuki_

Harry looked up from the letter. "It's from my Sensei."

"Oh, he's going home then?" Hermione asked.

"Right." Harry nodded. "He didn't even get mad at me about my accident. I guess because Professor Maison already is punishing me. He gave me some advice about electives for third year too." Harry paused, considering the last line of the letter. Deciding not to beat around the bush, he went on. "He also said there's a way you can learn the stuff in that book, Hermione. There's a trick to it. I guess to find the basic stuff that you need to know to do the really advanced things in that book."

Hermione's eyes widened. "No way." She breathed. "I've read that book cover to cover."

"It's magic." Ron laughed.

"I'm going to get it, right now." Hermione said as she was already starting to stand up.

As she rushed out of the Great Hall, Ron suddenly grinned. "Don't be late for class, Hermione!" he called after her.

Harry looked at Ginny, who shrugged and giggled quietly. Harry grinned back at her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ginny's aura lost the strange green streaks the next day and she didn't get sick, so Harry just shrugged it off to her having seen Mrs. Norris' death. The next two weeks were quiet, but filled with work as Hermione plowed ahead with the school books with Harry and Ron steadily keeping up with her as well. The alchemy text resisted all of her efforts to unlock its hidden secret which took up the rest of her time. Everyone in the castle slowly starting calming down as the weeks passed by with no new trouble. Well, trouble not given by Filch that is, whom went from one end of the castle to the other handing out severe punishments for anyone that even slightly broke a rule in an apparent attempt to make someone confess to the murder of Mrs. Norris.

Harry grinned as he sat watching his friends. Both Ron and Ginny were making a lot of improvement, but his other female friend on the other hand…

Hermione growled before opening her eyes and glaring at the ceiling. "I was doing so well, and now I can't get that book out of my head." She started sulking, and looked around aimlessly.

Ginny opened an eye and peered at Hermione. "I saw you put it in your bag, so why don't you work on that instead of bugging us then?"

"I want to learn wandless magic too!"

Ginny shrugged before closing her eye and continuing on with what she was doing.

Hermione sat there for a moment before letting out a weary sigh and scooted over so her bag was in front of her, digging in it and pulling out the alchemy text again. She opened it up to the first page, her hand tracing the words.

"Giving up already?" Harry asked her.

She shook her head, not looking up from the text. "Just delaying it. Your Sensei said there was a way to get the first parts of this, so he obviously wants me to. I think I'll take your teacher's words first, before yours Harry."

Harry nodded. "Alright then." He stood up, stretching. "I'm going to warm up then start my forms."

Harry slowly started his warm up, stretching out muscles that had been sitting in one place for the past hour as he worked with his friends. After a few minutes, he felt limber enough to start.

Falling naturally into one of the Tai Chi stances, Harry brought the Void around him and started. Step forward with a palm strike, block high with the other arm. Step back and lift the leg to block a kick, return it with a soft roundhouse. Two steps forward and channel his Chi into a sidekick, removing that opponent. Step forward again, turn, and block the middle against a new attacker.

Closing his eyes, Harry quickly flowed through and finished the form. Without pause, he quickly moved through each form, slowly working more and more Chi into his routines until each move had the force of Chi behind them. At the last kick, Harry's eyes flew open when he felt his Chi laden foot hit something and actually get blocked by it.

Professor Maison stood there, grinning, with Harry's foot caught in his hand. In his other hand he held Harry's staff. "Very nice, Mr. Potter. Now, add the staff to your routine and do as well." Maison let go of his foot and then tossed the staff to him.

Harry caught it, and bowed. "Yes sir, Professor."

Moving back into the modified position he'd been taught to use the staff with, Harry started again. Step forward low attack with the end of the staff, and then catch the returning blow in the staff's center. Block the kick, roundhouse followed by a head attack with the staff. Step forward and sidekick, knocking his opponent away.

He stopped after that, thinking about that last move. "Professor Maison? Wouldn't the staff get broken if I blocked a Chi attack?"

Maison nodded. "Normally, yes. But if you recall I told you about an advanced ability to extend your Chi over your weapon. If you did it as an Iron Fist, it would gain the same benefits that your own punches do. Namely, stronger hits and nearly impossible to break."

Harry nodded, looking at his staff. He closed his eyes and channeled his Chi, pushing it first into his hands then trying to extend it out into the staff. The staff seemed to actually resist the Chi unlike his own hands or even the hilt that Dudley still had. Straining, he barely managed to cover the part of the staff in between his hands before he let it go with a loud gasp.

Professor Maison just nodded. "As I said, an advanced technique." He walked over to Harry, pulling out his wand. "Thankfully, you do have an advantage. You're a wizard, and there is the _Crudesco_ charm." As he said the spell, he tapped the staff. "Now it would probably take Sensei Uzuki to break it using physical force."

Harry raised an eyebrow, before slamming the end of the staff as hard as he could down on the stone ground. The staff just vibrated and then stilled, completely whole. "Awesome."

"The only problem with doing something like that, is the Statute of Secrecy. If you fight someone while using a charmed weapon, it would be quite illegal."

"Drat."

Maison smiled at him. "So I would suggest you keep attempting to surround the staff with your Chi." He looked over to where Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were still sitting. Ginny was watching, Hermione was still reading and Ron still had his eyes closed. "And you might want to wake up Mr. Weasley before he drools on himself."

Ginny looked at her brother before reaching behind him and smacking him upside the head.

"Huh? Wha?" Ron looked at his sister. "Dang it, Ginny, I almost had it."

Hermione looked up from her book and frowned. "You were asleep, so I doubt that. You may have dreamed it though which I doubt is good enough."

Ron's retort was halted temporarily by a large yawn. "OK, so maybe I fell asleep. I still think I was really close."

"Maybe." Harry interrupted, before the two of them could really start arguing. "Keep trying though."

Ron nodded and closed one eye. He gave Ginny a look before closing the other eye. Both Ginny and Hermione had a quiet laugh at that.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Ladies and Gentlemen, wizards and witches of all ages,(plus the lousy Slytherins.) Welcome to the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match." Came the voice of Lee Jordan.

"Mr. Jordan." McGonagall's warning voice rang out over the packed quidditch pitch.

"Right, right, sorry." Lee's pseudo-chastised voice responded. "Anyways, this is the last match until after the Christmas holidays, so let's all enjoy a good game, without too much cheating from the Slytherins."

"I _will_ take the microphone from you..."

Harry grinned as he flew out onto the sunny pitch from the Gryffindor changing room behind his teammates, while listening to the bickering between Professor McGonagall and Lee. After a moment of silence from the announcers' box, Lee spoke again.

"Today's match will determine whether or not Slytherin learned last year that cheating doesn't pay. And Professor, that's the honest truth everything considered. With the Gryffindor team on the field, here comes the Slytherins."

Harry watched as the Slytherin team flew out from their own changing area and circled the pitch once before hovering on the other side of Madam Hooch.

Madam Hooch waved both team captains towards her, and they floated down and landed. Harry could hear her voice, magnified like Lee's was. "Now, I want a good game. Clean and fun. Do you understand me?" Both captains nodded. "Good. Shake and then get back in the air."

Oliver and Flint grasped each other's hands, less shaking going on than trying to crush the other. After a moment, they split up and flew back up to their respective positions. Harry was surprised to see Flint make it back up faster.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and threw the Quaffle into the air. Flint and the other two Chasers rocketed towards the Quaffle, much faster than Harry's own teammates.

Harry frowned as he saw a somewhat familiar blond head speeding towards him. Grimacing, he recognized the Slytherin. Draco Malfoy.

"So, Potter. How do you like the new brooms my father bought for the team?" Malfoy maliciously grinned as he moved his hand to show off the writing on his broom. _Nimbus 2001._

"Not bad." Harry looked at the broom. "But you know, a good broom doesn't mean a good player."

Malfoy scoffed. "It doesn't matter the skill level of my team, Potter, even though a group of newborns could fly circles around the pathetic Gryffindor team. I can easily beat you to the Snitch without trying and win the whole game."

"Whatever." Harry turned and flew away, eyes open for the small golden ball that was the Snitch. He did amusedly note that Malfoy was marking him, instead of searching out the Snitch himself.

The first thirty or so minutes of the game was surprisingly without any accidents, as the Slytherins apparently had decided to try to prove themselves the better players with their brooms. But as the score on both sides mounted at an almost even pace, the Slytherins started to play dirty once more. Harry winced as one of the Slytherin beaters 'mistimed' a Bludger hit and almost completely broke Katie's broom.

Suddenly Harry heard a shout and turned in time to watch the other Bludger coming straight at his head. Grimacing, Harry dived down below the iron ball only to watch in puzzlement as the ball curved sharply all by itself and sped back at him.

Cursing, Harry pulled back up out of his dive and quickly moved across the field, passing both Fred and George to have them hit the Bludger away. Turning as he heard shouts again, ready to move, he watched something extremely odd. Both Fred and George were hitting the Bludger as hard as they could anywhere except towards him, but the insane ball kept turning around and trying to come at him.

Glancing down towards the teacher's box, he noticed no one chanting like Hermione had described to him the year before. Snape actually wasn't even watching him, but the Gryffindor goal posts.

"Watch out, Harry!" one of the twins yelled and Harry pulled up on his broom sharply, watching the Bludger zoom underneath him, catching his broom's tail and knocking him off balance. The hit caused him to lose focus for a moment and he felt his control over his Mage Sight slip. "Dammit." Harry cursed before realizing it wasn't as bad in the air. There were only the other players, their brooms, and the Quidditch balls that had magical auras this high in the air.

Dodging the rogue Bludger once again, Harry looked around. _If I can find the Snitch fast enough, maybe they can stop that stupid Bludger._ In Alicia's arm was the Quaffle, and Fred was smacking the other Bludger towards a Slytherin Chaser. The magic in both balls was a pure white, but as Harry looked to the other Bludger, he noticed what looked to be a yellow aura grasping it and throwing it back at him. "Bollocks, that's what's making it go after me... and where's the stupid Snitch?"

Harry looked around, but didn't see anything else in the air at the moment. If it hadn't been for the rogue Bludger that something was throwing at him, he would have been grateful for it at least making Malfoy stay well clear of him.

There! A quick flash of a small aura, before it seemed to hide behind the Bludger that was currently trying someone's best to knock him off his broom. _Now, how to get it without getting my head taken off?_ Harry tried darting around, making the Bludger attack him and leave the Snitch alone long enough for him to grab it, but the Snitch bounced around as well, usually getting behind the Bludger again. Harry noticed it tended to stay hidden from both him and Malfoy though.

"This is really going to hurt..." Harry muttered to himself, allowing the Void to encompass him. He buried himself as deeply as he could in it, well away from where his emotions were touching the edges of it. Channeling as much of his Chi into his fist as he could while still maintaining concentration on the Bludger, Harry solidified it. "Iron Fist versus an iron Bludger. This is really gonna hurt…"

Harry was flying at the iron ball when the yellow aura grabbed it again. Whatever was holding it hesitated at Harry's maneuver, allowing Harry the chance to pull back his fist and punch as hard as he could at the ball.

While he couldn't see his own Chi, he had a fair idea what was happening, as he felt the energy protecting his hand start to crumble. But at the same time, spiderweb-like cracks were forming on the Bludger, both physically and on the magic that infused the ball. Finally Harry felt the last of his Chi drain from his fist and the knuckles crack. But the Bludger gave as well, breaking into half a dozen smaller metal chunks. Quickly reaching out with his other hand, Harry grabbed the Snitch that was about to dart away from its no-longer-there hiding place.

Holding it up to show Madam Hooch, he quickly guided his broom down to the ground, the pain quickly starting to eat its way through the Void as it pounded on his mind, demanding to be heard. Landing, Harry made sure that the game was over before releasing the Snitch and pulling out his wand. Focusing on stopping the pain, he channeled his magic through the core, watching the magic expand and then enter his arm. After a few times, the harsh edge trying to cut into the Void dulled slightly.

Pointing his wand at his arm to again try to stop more of the pain, he was surprised to have it pulled out of his hands. Looking up at Madam Hooch's stern face, he grimaced. "I broke it. Really, really badly. Can I have my wand back to try to stop the pain, please?"

"No." She handed his wand back anyways. "Go to the Hospital Wing, now. And if you attempt to cast one more spell on yourself before she looks at you, I will personally remove you from your Quidditch team for the rest of the year."

Harry's face turned white. "Right." Stuffing his wand back in his pocket, he raced off towards the school doors. Two redheads and a brunette followed behind him.

Harry felt he had probably set some land speed records in his run, regardless of the fact that he'd jarred his arm at least twice in the run to the Hospital Wing. As he ran, he quickly stopped as much of the magic as he could in his eyes to turn down his Mage Sight. Pushing open the door to the Hospital Wing with his good hand, he walked in.

"And what are we here for today, Mr. Potter?" Madam Pomfrey looked up from her desk.

Harry held up his bad arm slightly. "Punched and destroyed a Bludger with only my fist?" He grinned weakly.

Pomfrey immediately stood up. "Excuse me?" Her face showed shock, before she shook herself and grabbed her wand. "Sit down. Now."

Nodding, Harry did so. The pain was very close to breaking into the Void now, so Harry was very interested in stopping it.

Muttering a spell, Pomfrey waved her wand over his arm. "You've shattered nearly every bone in your fingers and hand, and there are stress fractures running up your arm all the way to the shoulder. And almost half of the nerves from your wrist down have been deadened somehow, which seems to be cutting off from some of the pain you should be going through. Still, there's enough active that you shouldn't have been able to make it here on your own."

"Umm, can we fix it without the questions? Let's just say I was trying to stop the pain on my own before I got here, alright?" Harry quickly asked.

Pomfrey gave him a hard look. "And what did you cast on yourself, then?" She stopped to think for a moment on what he could have used.

"Uhh, just used my magic and concentrated on stopping the pain."

Pomfrey sighed. "Children should not mess around with healing magic. I see I am going to have to ask a few of the Professors to repeat this instruction to their first years again. Since you seem to only have somehow turned off the nerves and not destroyed them completely, I can fix that as well. But as for the bones in your hand and arm, we'll have to remove them completely."

Harry winced, but didn't argue. After a moment of intricate wand movements and muttered words, Harry felt a melting sensation in his arm, followed by the removal of the pain that threatened to overwhelm the Void.

"I fixed the nerves and removed the bones." Pomfrey rummaged through a cabinet for a moment, before pulling a potion out. "Drink up. This will regrow the bones in your arm, but do expect a fair amount of pain. Just deserts for casting magic on yourself, I think. You'll be here the night while they regrow though."

"Yes Ma'am." Harry took the bottle with his still working hand and drank. The potion was thick but seemed to slide right down his throat. He immediately felt a tingle starting at his shoulder.

"While you're here, you'll receive no visitors for the first few hours until I am sure that you'll actually be able to receive them. I've seen grown men reduced to tears to replace the bones in a foot." Madam Pomfrey turned and left the area, casting a spell which drew a curtain barrier from the main area of the Wing.

Harry sat down on the bed, nothing to do but watch the ceiling. "Boring already." Harry laughed to himself, before wincing at a twinge of pain coming from his arm.

"Great Wizard Harry Potter Sir, Dobby was telling you that it was dangerous at Hogwarts." A voice said.

Harry turned to his side, seeing a little house-elf had popped into existence. Harry wracked his brain for a moment, before frowning. "Weren't you the house-elf that tried to get me in trouble at home?"

"Dobby is sorry Harry Potter Sir, but Dobby had to. Bad things is happening at Hogwarts, and Dobby tried to get Harry Potter Sir away from them." Dobby proceeded to bang his head on the bed railing. "Bad Dobby! Dobby is not supposed to be trying to get Harry Potter Sir to leave Hogwarts!"

"Leave Hogwarts?" Harry asked. "What do you..." Harry trailed off, focusing more on Dobby. The little elf's aura was colored the same shade of yellow that had grabbed the Bludger. "It was you. Your aura was grabbing that stupid Bludger and throwing it at me!"

Dobby looked up, his face showing shock. "Dobby knew Harry Potter Sir was a great wizard, but Harry Potter Sir sees auras?" Dobby smacked his head a few more times on the bed railing. "Bad Dobby, bad!" He repeated that a few more times, before popping out of existence again.

Harry leaned back in the bed. "Well, that was entirely unhelpful."


	13. 12: A duel, you say?

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: If you've been reading this long and thought that I owned this, you really need some help. Anyways, I don't, just in case you still thought I did.

Chapter 12: A duel, you say?

* * *

The students filed into class slowly, wands held high and ready. It was time again for their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and everyone was wary about Professor Hawwa's casting of random spells to test them.

Said professor was calmly sitting on her desk, arms crossed in front of her but no wand in sight. A small smile played about her lips, which for the few that saw it brought an instant gulp and heightened fear of their surroundings.

"Hello class." Her normally quiet, cold voice seemed to hold a slight edge to it now, of something none of the students could place.

No one said anything back to her.

Harry broke eye contact with his teacher for a moment, glancing about the room. _It's not paranoia with her. She IS out to get us._ Not seeing anything exceedingly strange about the classroom, he turned back.

"You've been in my class for over three months now. Since September first, I've been casting just about any spell found in your textbook. I've had exactly seven spells cast at me in retaliation, from three different people." Her eyes roamed the room, landing on certain people.

Harry gulped. He'd been one of those three. _Four of those spells were mine._

Professor Hawwa smirked. "If it were up to me, only those three people would be passing right now." Nervous glances were exchanged by the students. "I am the teacher, so it would be in my power to fail the rest of you miscreants."

Harry heard a sharp inhale from next to him. Quickly glancing over, he saw Hermione had gone as white as a sheet.

Their teacher continued on. "Unfortunately for me, the illustrious Headmaster told me that I would be required to test you, while you knew you were being tested."

There was a huge sigh of relief that went through the whole room. Then a sharp intake of breath and scrambling for wands as Professor Hawwa calmly pulled her wand out of her sleeve.

"_Incarcerous!"_

Harry turned, surprised, as Hermione cast a spell they'd just started working on at the professor.

A dark grin swept the professor's face as she slashed with her wand, the ropes splitting in two before vanishing. "I'm not going to attack the class and have them retaliate en masse, Miss Granger. But I will give you extra credit for trying to take the initiative."

Hermione's wand hand dropped. The rest of the class slowly put their own wands down, still not trusting they wouldn't be attacked anyways.

Raising her wand, Professor Hawwa quietly uttered an incantation and then started drawing in the air.

"Hey, that's the fire writing thing!" Ron hissed.

Hermione nodded distractedly, watching their teacher.

"Since you now know I wanted you to attack back, attacking you now would be fruitless. Instead, I think we will have a competition." As she said this, she finished drawing out brackets for a tournament.

"Professor, there's more spaces there than there are students in the class." Hermione observed, confused.

"That, child, would be because this competition is not solely for this class. First through third years will all be competing against each other." Tapping a sheet of paper on her desk, she flicked her wand at the fire structure. Names quickly formed themselves out of the fire already there. "As you can see, classes that have already been here in the past few days have draw for their places."

The class nodded, not able to read the names from that far away but agreeing nonetheless.

"Inside your desks should be four scraps of paper. Take one and tell me your number. Starting with the front."

Harry lifted the top of the desk, revealing the folded scraps of paper. Not caring which, he grabbed one and opened it. _17. Okay, wonder who that makes my opponent?_

"Granger." Professor Hawwa's voice called, as Harry looked up. It was almost his turn.

"26, Professor." Hermione answered.

"Bulstrode then." She marked it down on her paper and it appeared in the fire. "Potter."

"17." Harry told her.

"Malfoy's yours. Weasley." Harry frowned.

Ron looked down at his paper, then looked up at the brackets, sick. Apparently he could read it well enough to see who his opponent would be. "8."

"Weasley... Well, since there's so many of you, Weasley, Ginevra will be your opponent."

Ron slumped.

The rest of the class continued to give their numbers as well, some receiving opponents, others first in their bracket so they would have to wait to find out who they would be pit against.

After going through the class, Miang looked at the tournament brackets. "The tournament will be two weeks from this Saturday. Here are the rules."

Hermione and several other students pulled out parchment and quills.

"Rule One: Anything legal goes. If you can cast it and the Ministry isn't going to arrest you for it, use it. I do mean anything as well, students. Although since this is supposed to be a Defense class, Dark spells are going to net you less points."

There was a massive scratching of quills for a moment, then the students looked back up at her.

"Rule Two: You will be graded based on your attack and defense abilities. You can lose the first fight and still make a passing grade, if you show competency with offense and defense. There will be no withdrawing or giving up on a match. You will immediately fail if you do so. On the other hand, whoever wins immediately gets a passing grade for the year. They must still show up for class though."

Harry and the majority of the class grinned. Now that was a prize.

"Rule Three: You don't like it, tough. My class, my rules. You cannot make me change it."

Now Harry frowned at that. That third rule reminded him of his sensei. Shaking it off as coincidence, he waited to hear what else Professor Hawwa would say.

"That's it. There will be no more of my class until your tournament. Those of you who do not currently know your opponents may return here once per day until your opponent is drawn. Use this time to prepare." With that, the students were dismissed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry sighed as he heard someone else walk up to them as they worked in the common room. "What're we at, eight now?" he asked his friends.

"Nine." Hermione corrected him before turning. "Yes?" She asked.

A brown-haired mousy looking boy, probably a first year, was standing there. He had a camera hanging from around his neck, and fidgeted before talking. "Umm. Can I ask you for some help?"

"With?" Hermione asked, already assuming the answer.

"Well, umm, I've got a third year to face right off. Can you help me get ready for it?"

"What's your name?" Hermione asked.

"Colin Creevey."

"Colin, we're busy trying to study ourselves. I'm sorry, but we can't just stop and go back. It'd take a month of working with you to bring you up to where we're at." She gently told him.

"But you're helping her!" Colin pointed at Ginny, his fellow first year. She scowled at him.

"She's my sister, Colin." Ron said, speaking up.

"So you'll help her and not me? That's not fair." Colin complained.

Harry sighed. "You know, I think we're nine for nine on that question." He looked at Colin. "Ginny's been working with us since the start of term. She didn't come asking for help just as this thing started."

"Besides, I'm helping them more than they're helping me." Ginny grinned mischievously. "Especially Ron here."

Colin's shoulders slumped. "Fine." He lifted his camera and took a picture, making spots dance before their eyes from the flash. "At least I got a picture of Harry Potter. Great prat that he is." He then walked off dejectedly.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the retreating boy's back. "You know, we really should just make a standard answer card and give it out when they come to ask. It'd probably save us some time."

Ginny giggled quietly while Ron didn't bother to hide his laughter at the idea. Hermione just frowned. "Harry, honestly. I understand why we can't just help them, but that's not nice at all."

"Yeah, but we'll never get all these spells looked up if we keep getting interrupted." Harry argued, pulling a book back in front of him again. "Now, what were we looking for?"

Hermione sighed, but didn't press it. "We don't know what the area the tournament will take place in is going to look like. And it's your turn. We're looking for something to help with your martial arts you said."

"Right." Harry nodded. "Protego isn't going to last long enough for me to close in on them, so we need something else."

Ginny looked down at her book. "We ruled out the invisibility spell. Too hard to cast, takes too long, and not enough time to learn it. What else?"

"Speed, or something like Apparition. But I doubt anyone will teach us how to Apparate between now and the competition." Ron put in his two cents.

"You can't Apparate in Hogwarts." Hermione said distractedly, still paging through her own book.

"Um, that too."

Harry looked up from his book at Ron, then glanced between him and his sister. "Should you two really be learning what the other is going to do? You do have your first match against each other."

Ginny shrugged. "Doesn't bother me." She gave a winning grin at her brother. "I'll still beat him anyways."

"Right, like I'm gonna let my own sister beat me. Doesn't matter if she knows what I'm learning." Ron glared back at her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was relatively warm for the first weekend of December, but the students still stood there near the lake, teeth chattering, as Professor Hawwa stood before them.

Oddly enough, she didn't seem to be affected in the least by the cold. "Alright students. Time to earn your grade." Waving her wand, the tournament brackets showed up in fire again. Everyone drew closer, not to see it, but to get closer to the heat source.

"Oh for Heaven's sake." Hermione laughed as she watched everyone try to huddle closer to it. Pulling out her own wand, she created a fairly large spiral in the fire writing herself.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny all groaned before realizing they should have created their own. Doing so, they turned to watch. A few others had created their own and now everyone was waiting.

"First matchup, Abbot and Chang. Come on you two." Professor Hawwa read off.

The two girls separated themselves from their friends and walked to their teacher.

"Miss Abbot, you go 20 feet that way." Hawwa pointed towards the left of the group. "And Miss Chang, opposite direction, same distance."

Once they were in their designated spots, Professor Hawwa's voice rang out. "Continue until the other person cannot. Begin!"

Harry couldn't help but laugh quietly as he watched the spells being traded. Looking over at his friends, he saw they'd realized the same thing.

"They're not moving at all unless they have to dodge a spell." Harry remarked. "This'll be even easier for us. At least in the first round."

"So confident of yourself, are you Potter?" An unwelcome voice added.

Harry sighed. "I'm not even remotely worried about my match with you, Malfoy." Turning, he saw the blond scowling at him. "Remember, the darker the spell, the less points you get." Harry grinned.

"Like I would need anything dark to remove you from the competition Potter." Malfoy turned and walked off.

"Bloody idiot." was Ron's only comment towards the previous conversation. "Anyways, you're right. They're presenting standing targets; way easy to attack. Move, and it's harder to hit you."

"Looks like they're done." Ginny said, drawing their attention back towards the field where Cho had gotten the idea of casting enough stunners until Hannah dodged, then hit her with a stunner before she could recover.

"Winner, Miss Chang." Professor Hawwa's voice seemed bored, but she didn't say anything. She woke a shaky Hannah Abbot back up, and the two left the field.

The four friends watched as the next two matches went the same way. One person would cast a spell, the other would use a Protego spell or similar, and then cast back. It went back and forth until one of them got tired, and the less tired person won.

"Both Weasleys, up and ready."

As the two moved towards where they were to start, Harry leaned over to Hermione. "Who should I root for? Ron or Elly?"

Hermione smacked him upside the head when Ginny froze up for a moment, before starting to walk again.

Thinking back over his words, Harry groaned. "Sorry. Ron or Ginny?"

"I'm... not sure. They did extra research for spells. Even Ron." Hermione said after a moment of thinking. "How about I root for Ron, you root for Ginny?"

Harry shrugged. "Works for me." Looking onto the field where they'd separated to go to the now marked spots, he shouted "Good luck, Ginny! Don't kill your brother!"

Ginny turned and blushed fiercely before waving at Harry, and then turned back to face her brother.

Ron looked at them and got two thumbs up, so he grinned and faced Ginny.

"Siblings. Oh what fun." Professor Hawaa said. "Don't kill each other. The nurse can fix maiming though." Her grin at saying this was slightly unhinged, although only Ron and Ginny were able to see it. "Begin!"

"_Expelliarmus!"_ came from both of them, as they then dove aside to dodge the spell.

Ginny managed to get to her feet first, calling out a spell that Harry remembered Hermione using. _"Incarcerous!"_ Thin ropes appeared in front of her and raced across the open area towards Ron.

Eyes widening, Ron looked over towards Harry and pointed his wand. "_Accio _Staff!" Harry's martial arts staff, which he'd brought with him to use, shuddered violently before moving, one end hitting the ground and causing it to flip end over end through the air towards Ron. Jumping back, the staff missed him and managed to get in front of most of the ropes, but one made it by and wrapped around his wandless hand and chest, tying them together.

Ginny smirked. "I'm winning, Ron."

Growling, Ron put his wand on the rope. Quietly saying the words for the fire writing spell, he pushed the wand through the rope, burning it to where it broke. "Bollocks!" He then yelled, holding his arm where he'd touched the fire to it, burning himself.

"_Incarcerous!"_ Ginny yelled again while Ron's attention was off her.

Dropping below the ropes this time, Ron flicked his wand as best he could at his sister. "_Impedimenta!"_

"_Protego!"_ Ginny cast, her shield flickering into place just in time to cancel out Ron's spell. Quickly reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a handful of small, round object.

Harry frowned. He couldn't tell what she'd pulled, but by the almost diabolical grin she was wearing, she probably figured she had won now.

"Better give up, Ron." Ginny said to her brother sweetly.

Ron got back up on his feet, shaking his head. "Not gonna happen. We fail if we do that, remember?"

Ginny frowned. "Oh, right. Just a sec." She looked over to Professor Hawwa, who was silently watching to match. "How bad does he have to be out before the match ends?"

"Unconscious or can't move and doesn't have a wand." She answered.

Ginny sighed. "This is gonna hurt Ron. Sorry ahead of time."

Ron frowned.

She tossed something from her hand into the air, taking aim as the object came down. She muttered something no one could hear, but the result was evident.

The little marble slowed down in the air as the spell fought gravity, then rocketed towards Ron, hitting him in the stomach.

Ron fell to the ground, dropping his wand and holding his stomach.

"Is that good enough?" Ginny asked, turning again to their teacher.

"No, he can still recover and get his wand." The professor said, her tone a mystery to the class.

Ginny's eyes flashed for a moment. "I am not going to Banish a marble into my brother's head to knock him out."

She walked over to her brother and picked up his wand. Holding her own, she muttered the stunning charm, knocking him out.

"How... disappointing." Was all the teacher said. She rennervated Ron. "Well, regardless, you both have passed with flying colors. I had passed you both when you decided not to stand there and be targets for each other."

The two siblings helped each other back over to where Harry and Hermione sat, before nearly collapsing.

Ginny fell onto her back, just looking up at the sky. "I'm completely drained. All I need to do now is pray we don't go to the next set of fights today."

"Magic drained?" Harry asked.

"Every last bit of it, I think." Ginny answered. "Although, it may be better this way. I can almost feel where it's drained and missing. Maybe I can find it properly next time we practice." She weakly laughed.

"Yeah, well at least you're not feeling like you're about to blow chunks all over the ground. Did you have to hit me that hard with those marbles?" Ron complained, holding his stomach gingerly.

"It was supposed to stop you." Ginny said. "Evil teacher that she is though, she wouldn't accept that. So I had to stun you afterwards."

"At least you didn't maim me." Ron grumbled, softly sitting down as well.

Ginny made a protesting noise. "I wouldn't maim you Ron!"

"Bat Bogey." Ron flatly replied.

Even through her already flushed face, Harry grinned seeing it turn a little redder.

"Alright, maybe just a little."

"Mr. Potter."

Harry turned to see Professor Hawwa holding out his staff. "I think your friend here summoned it?"

Harry grabbed it, nodding. "Thank you, Professor."

"I would hope that you are using it in your match, as I would hate to disqualify Mr. Weasley and yourself because you gave him help."

Harry winced slightly. "I didn't know he was going to summon it. Heck, I didn't even know he knew the summoning spell. I'd planned to use it myself."

She nodded. "Alright then." And then she walked back to referee the next match.

The quartet watched the next few matches silently. At the end of the sixth match, Ron finally broke the silence.

"You know, they're so worried about making sure they're moving around and stuff now, that they're not even really doing anything."

Ginny slowly sat up, looking over the two people currently dueling.

Ron had been right, they were more or less circling each other, only occasionally casting spells. More often, they were trying to take quick peeks at Professor Hawwa. Ginny laughed. "They'd do better if they would just go."

"Hey, they can't all be great duelists like you two." Harry grinned, poking both Ginny and Ron in the sides.

Ginny blushed as Ron laughed and his ears turned a little red.

"It's probably because we're already half way through the third year section of the DADA book. They probably just started reading it when Professor Hawwa made this. We're really too far ahead of the others, and probably even with the third years." Hermione frowned. "It's really not fair to the first years."

"Not our problem." Harry waved off her concerns. "They had all year to work on it too, Hermione. You saw how many people only just started really working on the end of the spell list and started asking us for help."

"I guess." Hermione slowly agreed.

They sat there again, watching until it was Harry's turn.

"Potter, Malfoy. Get up and get ready." Hawwa told them.

Harry stood up, grabbing his staff. "Which side, Professor?" He asked her calmly.

"Left." She answered, and then pointed Malfoy to the right side. Once they were at their positions, she nodded. "Begin."

Harry held his staff up, wand inside the crease he'd cut into the staff just that morning. He paused momentarily, as Draco was only lightly holding his wand.

"You know," Draco started, "I don't believe anyone would think that was your wand Potter."

Harry shrugged. It didn't bother him what anyone else thought at the moment. But it might be interesting to hear what Malfoy was going to try to say to make him angry and mess up.

"So I assume you're going to try to do something Muggle. You poor, poor brute." Malfoy looked over to where his three friends were sitting. "And her." He looked back. "I don't understand why you keep the poor Weasley brat around. Maybe in a few years, you could buy some time with her. But now?"

Harry growled. If Malfoy wanted him angry, he'd gotten it. The edges of his vision brightened slightly, and then his entire vision pulsed for a moment, and Harry thought he'd seen an odd cross. Shaking the image away, he cleared his mind as best he could before entering the Void. "Let's play, Malfoy. Anything goes, so I can maim you."

Draco sneered. "I'm so scared, Scarhead." Malfoy cast something that Harry didn't bother listening to the incantation of, and a yellow light came at him.

Not bothering to cast anything, Harry stepped aside allowing the spell to pass by him harmlessly. Shifting his stance into a much more aggressive one, he channeled his magic into his wand and waited.

He didn't have to wait long. "_Stupefy!_" Draco yelled at him, the bright red spell flying towards Harry.

Chuckling, and with a voice in his head egging him on, Harry swept his staff in front of him, allowing the magic he'd channeled into his wand to release. _"Declino."_ He calmly said, and an odd shield seemed to spring up in front of him. The stunner hit it and instead of just breaking apart against it, seemed to slide along it until it hit the edge of the spell of went veering off into the trees.

Harry then charged forward, only having to duck slightly to dodge another stunner sent at him. Once he got close enough to Malfoy, he swung his staff low, hearing a satisfying crunch as the blond boy's shin proved to be weaker than Harry's blow.

"Bloody Hell!" Malfoy screamed, nearly dropping his wand to grab his leg as Harry took a few steps back to distance himself from the pained boy.

"I didn't hit you hard enough to break it through, just probably fractured it. You're still standing, you still have your wand." Harry smiled darkly. "Which by Professor Hawwa's rules means we're not done."

Malfoy looked up, his eyes flashing. "Fine then. If you want to use your stupid Muggle toys, then I'll show you real magic." Malfoy held his wand out, pointing at the ground between them. "_Serpensoria!_" To Harry's almost completely muted Mage Sight, the magic expelled from Malfoy's wand seemed to twist and warp, before dispersing and a fifteen foot long snake appeared.

It raised up, hissing, and Harry noticed it was a King Cobra. "Get the hell out of my way, snake." Harry narrowed his eyes at the snake, trying to figure out a way around it.

He was surprised then, when the snake quit hissing and nodded, nearly bowing to him. _"Assss you sssay, Masster."_ He then nearly dropped his staff when the snake said that. Said snake then slithered away, towards the Forbidden Forest.

Harry looked up, to see shock on the face of Malfoy. Not wasting any time Harry rushed forward and sharply hit Malfoy's wand hand, jarring the wand away from the Slytherin. Harry then spun, catching Malfoy in the back of the head with his staff, sending him off to dreamland.

He turned to find the rest of the students staring at him in shock and no little fear. Even Professor Hawwa looked intrigued.

"What?"

That's when he heard the first whispers. "Parseltongue! He's a Parseltongue!"

Harry ignored them and sat back down next to his friends. He frowned when Ron scooted away. "What's up?"

Ron took a good look at him. "You're a Parseltongue!"

"And this means..." Harry trailed off, waiting on an answer.

"You can speak to snakes!"

"Right. Like the one I just told to get lost and it did. So what?"

"You-Know-Who was a Parselmouth! It's like a trait of Dark Wizards." Ron told him.

Shrugging, Harry looked around. "OK, so maybe I wasn't all light and nice to Malfoy, but he deserved it. I'm not a Dark Wizard either way."

"W-we believe you, Harry." Ginny said, kicking her brother from where she was laying, her eyes a little wide still. "It's just after everything You-Know-Who did, it's going to start some rumors."

"Whatever." Harry flopped backwards, lying down. "People are going to have their opinions, and if they don't like me, they don't like me. As long as you guys don't run off screaming."

"Even if it has been used for Dark purposes, it doesn't mean it is always Dark, right? It's the intention." Hermione said hesitantly.

"Right!" Harry said, and then closed his eyes. _What was that cross?_

He was shaken about twenty minutes later, and opened his eyes to see Ron looking at him. "Come on mate, Professor Hawwa said we're done for the night. We're gonna finish tomorrow."

Harry yawned and sat up, stretching. "Alright, works for me."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry woke up the next morning refreshed. Making his way down the stairs into the common room, he stopped when he realized that even though the room was crowded, it was completely silent. And everyone seemed to be looking at him.

"Umm, morning?"

One of the first years slowly walked up to him. "I-I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you before." He said, before nearly breaking into tears. "I won't do it again, just don't attack me too!" He then backed up into the crowd again.

Now he was really confused. "Wha?"

No one answered.

"Okay... I'm going to go get some breakfast now." Harry left the common room, still confused as to what had just happened.

Making his way into the Great Hall, he was again met with silence, before the whispering started. As he walked through, he caught some phrases. _"He's a Parselmouth." "...probably attacked..." "Poor kid..."_

He sat down next to Ron and Hermione, and watched as everyone else around them pushed themselves away slightly. Frowning, he looked at his friends. "Alright, I give. What's up?"

Hermione sighed. "Sometime last night, Colin Creevey was attacked. He's in the Hospital Wing, supposedly Petrified."

"Damn, what attacked him?"

Shrugging, Ron looked around the rest of the Hall. "No one knows, but since it came out yesterday that you're a Parselmouth, people think you did it. Remember that stuff from Halloween? Heir of Slytherin and all that?"

Harry banged his head against the table. "God, I am not hearing this. I am not the heir of Slytherin. I can't stand them, so why would I want to be the Heir of them?"

"Harry, we believe you. But we're about the only ones that seem to at the moment." Hermione nodded at Ron's words, patting Harry's shoulder.

Harry stood up. "I'm suddenly not hungry anymore." He looked at Hermione. "What time are we finishing the tournament?"

"Professor Hawwa was forced to cancel it this morning." Hermione said. "The people who didn't have a duel yesterday will be doing private duels for her to grade."

"OK, I'm still going back to the common room. Maybe I can go to bed and find out this is all a dream." Harry left, whispers still echoing in the Great Hall behind him.

* * *

Beta Note: Here's something interesting in case you don't know. According to the Lexicon and a few other sources, J.K. has changed, 'Enervate' to 'Rennervate'. So far this is only  
in the newer British editions, but we over in the US can expect to see it changed eventually as well.

Author's Note: Well, at long last, here's chapter 12. Read and review! I've got time off from school at the moment, so hopefully I can get another chapter done in the next couple of weeks.


	14. 13: New findings

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: At the rate this is going, I'll die long before JKR ever admits to giving me the rights to Harry Potter. So enjoy the fanfic!

A/N: There's a reason this is took so long to get out. I looked at my outline and realized something. I'd already done just about everything I'd planned for this chapter. So I had to consider what I'd left out at this point. Enjoy the fruits of my insanity. (Note, this was written back when before my muse ran off screaming after seeing this. Now my excuse is having had to track down said muse. Apologies all.)

Chapter 13: New Finding

* * *

Harry had found out the hard way that between being discovered as a Parselmouth and Colin being petrified shortly after, that no one really trusted him. At least not beyond the three friends that sat across from him in Professor Maison's classroom. 

Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were all sitting down, eyes closed, facing him. And Ron didn't even seem to be asleep. This time.

"Alright. Now that you've built-up the Void, we're going to look for your magic core." Harry grinned in response to the smiles that appeared on their faces. "What you need to do is make the flame burn as bright as you can, then cast a strong spell."

Harry let part of the concentration over his Mage Sight slip, allowing him to watch his friends' auras as they raised their wands. "Whoa, hold on, let me get out of the way." Harry laughed as he quickly stood up and moved to the side. "Go ahead."

Three voices shouted out three different spells. "_Mormoops Mucus!" "Incarcerous!" "Sarcina!"_

Harry nodded at the three spells. Ginny's spell was a bulging green, looking like a bogey. Hermione's ropes looked to be somewhat thicker than when she'd used them against Professor Hawaa. Ron's spell was something he'd not heard before but was a light gray color.

The two spells splashed harmlessly against the far wall while the ropes sunk to the ground, shimmering and disappearing quickly.

"So, you guys feel or see anything? A cord or string leading somewhere? Maybe a pool of energy?" Harry asked, curious.

All three shook their heads.

Ginny opened her eyes and looked at her brother strangely though. "Since when do you know one of Mum's cleaning spells, Ron?"

Ron coughed, looking embarrassed. "Well... Mum was trying to hurry all of us up to get to the train. She cast it in my room when she saw I wasn't ready. I just saw it and remembered."

Ginny's eyes gleamed. "Oh really? I bet Mum would love to know you paid attention and can cast that. It'd help her a lot, you know?"

"Hey, hey! You could cast it too, you know." Ron argued.

Ginny put on a confused look. "What was that incantation again?"

"OK." Ron groaned, knowing he wasn't going to win. "What do you want?"

His sister smirked at him. "Oh nothing. Right now at least." Ron sighed, nodding.

Hermione giggled while Harry just shook his head. "Alright you two. You need to keep trying if you didn't feel anything around the Void."

Harry's three friends/students then quieted down and kept casting.

Twenty minutes of constant spell casting later, Ginny was the first to become exhausted. Ten minutes later Ron dropped his arm, Hermione only a few casts behind him.

"Well? How about an empty spot then; where there's an empty hole?" Harry inquired.

Ron looked at his friend, panting. "You expect us… to look now?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, what else would you use up all your magic for?" He stared at the three. "So?"

"Give me a minute, Harry." Hermione breathed before sitting and closing her eyes again.

Ginny sat as well. "In for a penny…"

"In for a pound." Ron sat down and yawned. "I fall asleep, someone poke me." He closed his eyes and stilled.

Fifteen minutes later Harry sat with his back against the wall, watching his friends. So far it didn't look like any of them had fallen asleep. Ron even opened one eye occasionally to look at him to prove it.

"Umm, Harry? There's a shadow in the Void. Is that normal?" Hermione asked.

"A shadow?"

"Yeah. The flame isn't putting light everywhere." Hermione opened her eyes slowly, puzzled. "That's not right, is it?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Well… Can you see what's making it shadow? Move the flame?"

"Yeah, come on Hermione. Maybe it's your magic!" Ginny grinned as she opened her eyes.

Hermione nodded at them. "Well…" Closing her eyes again, Harry could see her focus.

Dropping most of the concentration holding back his Mage Sight, Harry allowed the auras of his friends to come into a much brighter and focused view. Watching like this, he could see just how exhausted their magic really was, because their auras weren't very large at the moment.

_Hermione must be pretty close._ Harry thought to himself as he watched her aura flicker, contract, and then expand in rapid sequence.

Suddenly Hermione smiled widely. "I think I found something. It's like a little puddle of something. It's… blue?"

"My magic is silver, from what I see of it. Your aura is sort of deep blue, so I guess they match. Can you find the link between it and your wand?" Harry asked her.

Ron quietly leaned on his hands, which he had set on the mats behind him, watching intently. "Come on Hermione, you can do it. …Then you can show us how to do it." He grinned at her.

"Prat." Ginny whispered, lightly kicking him and then grinning.

Hermione's face took on a confused expression. "It's slowly getting bigger."

"If that is your magic, it's recharging." Harry explained to her. He closed his own eyes and called up the Void easily, seeing his own wellspring of magic. "As I use mine, it digs its own well deeper. Then when it's completely full again, my total magic is a little more."

"I still can't find my wand connection to it though, Harry." Hermione opened her eyes, frustrated.

Ron sat up and shrugged. "You're still a step ahead of us, Hermione." He turned to Harry. "So, what color is mine and Ginny's aura? If we've got a color to look for, it might be easier."

"Yours is purple. Ginny's is a warm red." Harry told them, then sighed. "But I don't know what else to do today, since you're all magically exhausted. Let's call it an evening. I need to change this place back, so I'll be back to the tower in a bit, alright?"

Ginny gave Harry a sad look. "You really need to quit hiding in here Harry, but I'll see you later." She stood up and left, throwing a smile back at him as she walked out.

"Eh, it's a week until Christmas. It'll calm down eventually. Probably once everyone goes home for break." Harry told Ron and Hermione, after watching Ginny leave.

"Hopefully." Hermione said as she stood up as well. "We'll be waiting for you, so no sticking around here too long."

"Right." Harry nodded as they walked out. Sighing to himself, he pulled out his wand and started reversing Professor Maison's transfigurations, turning the mats back into normal desks.

"You do well as a teacher yourself, Mr. Potter."

"Bloody h…" Harry jumped and spun at the voice, only to find Professor Maison leaning against the far wall. "Professor Maison, I'm sorry. I didn't see you." Harry frowned, regaining his breath. "And… that's very odd. I'm not holding back my Sight very much right now, but I didn't see you. When did you come in?."

"The castle walls blind you still, then." Maison knocked on a wall and it opened, revealing another room. "I was only in my room, reading. I thought it odd that there were spells bouncing off my door. On investigating, I find that one of your friends have managed to find their magic."

Harry shrugged and restored the last of the desks. "Hermione's always been good with learning new things."

"True. But finding and being able to use it are two different things. After she finds her connection and resolves the issue of tapping her magic herself, you will not attempt to teach her how to cast with it without myself here, is that understood?" Maison looked at Harry sharply. "I will not have a student risk burning out their magic."

"'Burning out their magic?'" Harry repeated.

"Yes, because she does not have the training you received with your Chi or have the reserves of power an adult would have, she could run the risk of burning out her magical core. In effect, turn herself into a squib." Harry looked sick at the idea. "I thought it an interesting pastime of you and your friends to attempt this, but since you all apparently have the will and strength to finish the first step, I'm not letting your friends harm themselves accidentally."

"Yes sir, Professor. No experimenting once she figures out how to touch it, no casting spells with it." Harry nodded quickly.

"Good to hear. Warn all three of your friends about it, so they know the dangers." Maison looked at his watch. "And it's almost curfew, so back to your tower. Your last lesson before the holidays is in two days."

"Yes sir. Have a good night then, Professor Maison." Harry smiled at his teacher and left the classroom.

"Amazing…" Maison said to himself quietly. "She found her magical core. That would mean her core is as large as an average sixth or seventh year student." Maison then shook his head slightly as he walked back into his room. "But I wonder if she has the control required to go with it."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The only good thing about the whole 'Heir' thing, Harry supposed, was that everyone was too afraid to sit near him, so they could always find good seats next to the fire's warmth. The trio was currently huddled around the fireplace, Ron once again beating Harry senseless in a game of Wizard's Chess.

"Six days until just about everyone leaves for the Christmas holiday. You guys going?" Harry asked his friends.

"We're staying here since Mum and Dad are going to visit Charlie in Romania." Ron mentioned distractedly, as he directed a rook to slaughter another one of Harry's chess pieces.

Harry winced. "I've got a king and two pawns left. You've won again Ron." He then looked to Hermione. "What about you?"

Hermione put a mark into her book before looking up. "It's a nine hour drive for my parents to King's Cross when it's not snowing like crazy. I'm staying as well." She then closed the book and continued. "What are you going to do today, Harry? It's not healthy to stay trapped up in Professor Maison's classroom. And it's just going to make everyone wonder exactly what you're doing anyways."

Harry sighed. "And then they'll think I'm plotting the downfall of the Muggle-borns, right?" Harry shook his head, exasperated, at Hermione's nod. "Fine. I'll go visit Hagrid then. He won't think I'm the stupid heir of anything."

Harry stood up and looked around the common room, sighing when he only got venomous or fearful looks from everyone that wasn't Hermione or a Weasley. He grabbed his winter cloak hanging from the chair and walked out of the common room.

As he trudged down the stairs and passed the Great Hall, Harry shook his head again. "Stupid Heir crap. If I was the heir, I'd disband the whole lot of the Slytherins, not go attacking other people. Idiots."

He continued muttering to himself as he walked out of the school towards the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's hut. Harry was surprised to find Hagrid outside his hut, throwing something into a sack.

"Hey Hagrid. How are you?" Harry asked, looking at the bag curiously.

"Heya Harry!" Hagrid's voice boomed at him, even in the small distance between them. "Ben hopin' you'd make yer way down here. Nasty business up in the castle."

Harry sighed. "Tell me about it. And everyone thinks it's me." Harry looked around the big man, trying to see what he'd been picking up.

"Strange stuff down here too, but nothin' like up there." Hagrid bent down and picked up something before showing it to Harry. "Somethin's been killin' off the roosters. Strangled an' beat down, not Petrified." Hagrid added at Harry's sick look.

Harry turned his head away from the dead bird and took a deep breath. "What's killing them then?"

Hagrid looked over the yard, shrugging. "Dunno. I thought it'd might have been somethin' from the forest, but they'd eat the poor things. Fer all I know, it's a prank. Can't manage ta catch whatever it is killin' 'em though."

Nodding carefully and looking towards the forest, Harry then smiled at Hagrid. "Need a hand? I'm out here hiding from most of the people in the school who are crazy enough to think I'm the stupid Heir of Slytherin."

"If ya want to, shure. Don't get the blood on yer robes though, no spares out here ta change into." Hagrid reached into his oversized coat and pulled out another large sack. "Here ya go, just dump 'em in here an' I'll get rid of 'em."

Harry accepted the sack and then looked at Hagrid curiously. "How do you keep everything in that coat, anyways? Is it magical?"

Hagrid nodded. "Kinda. Professor Dumbledore put charms on it fer me. Makes the pockets a bit bigger an' makes things I put in there a little smaller. Stuff like that."

"Neat." Harry looked around. "Guess we need to get to picking up the roosters."

A few hours later found Harry bidding Hagrid goodbye, having finished helping clean up and then spent some time talking to his friend in Hagrid's hut next to a roaring fire.

"I need to get back, before any rumors go around about me plotting the destruction of student life as we know it." Harry laughed to Hagrid.

"Yea, but come on back any time yeh want, Harry. I don't get enough visitors down 'ere." Hagrid said. "Rock cake to munch on on the way back up? They'd have cooled down a bit by now, still good though."

Harry gulped and paled slightly. "Uh, no thanks Hagrid."

"Suit yerself." Hagrid bit down on the small cake and Harry tried to suppress his wince at the loud crunch.

Harry grinned and waved goodbye to him, before turning and starting to push through the snow that had piled several inches deep by now.

He reached the school and entered quietly, making sure to keep a lookout for Filch as he didn't want to get caught making a mess of the hall, even if it was just some melted snow. He quickly made his way up towards Gryffindor Tower, not surprised when he was ignored by the few students he passed out in the halls.

Reaching the Fat Lady's portrait, he gave her the password and entered.

Hermione was still reading over the book Sensei Uzuki had given her, and Ron was now sitting across from one of the third years, soundly trouncing him in a game of chess. He saw Ginny sitting in a corner of the room writing out what looked to be some homework, so he headed her way after nodding to Ron. Hermione was too distracted by her book to notice his nod to her.

"So, what are you working on, Ginny?" Harry said as he sat down across from her.

She looked up, half frowning. "Transfiguration homework. Professor McGonagall wants three feet of proper wand movements and incantations on everything we've been doing so far." She then smiled at him. "At least you got my name right this time, Harry."

"Yeah, yeah. I figure you've yelled it at me enough that I have to get it right at least once, right?" Harry grinned at her, laughter in his eyes.

She blew him a raspberry before refocusing back on her homework. "And it's not an assignment you guys had last year, so I don't have your guys' to copy sections from." She pointed to a stack of parchment. "But Hermione takes a crazy amount of notes. I'm using them as reference. And as a reminder of what the class is actually doing and not what we've gone ahead with."

"Yeah. That probably wouldn't be good to turn in a bunch of stuff Professor McGonagall isn't looking for." Harry agreed and stood up. "I'll leave you be then since I guess it's due soon."

"Yeah. Thanks Harry." Ginny replied distractedly, now back in her world of minute wand movements and how to describe them on parchments.

Harry laughed before walking over to Hermione, ignoring the looks he received from the others in the room. He sighed as one of the students quickly vacated a chair near where Hermione was reading. "You didn't have to do that." Shaking his head, he dropped into the seat.

"Hmm?" Hermione looked up. "Oh, hi Harry. How was Hagrid?"

"Not bad, but something was killing roosters. A whole bunch of them, and Hagrid said most of them happened in the past day or two. You know anything that lives in the Forbidden Forest and might hunt them?"

Hermione put a marker in her book and closed it. She then closed her eyes in thought. "Hunts roosters? Well, from what I've read, there's a bunch of things in the forest that would hunt small animals. Most of them hibernate during the winter, but there are a few. I'd have to go look them up to see which it might be."

Harry shook his head. "No, that's alright. If there is something in the Forest, it probably just didn't have a chance to feed before Hagrid got out there. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't more of this stupid Heir crap."

Hermione shook her head. "Not everything is going to be about this Heir thing, Harry. It'll all blow over once Colin's ok and he says it wasn't you who attacked him. You know they're growing the ingredients to make the potion here at Hogwarts, right?"

"Yeah, I heard Professor Sprout and Maison talking about it a few weeks ago."

"Well, just wait until then and you'll be fine." Hermione nodded and opened her book back up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I still haven't figured out the trick to this infernal book your Sensei gave me."

* * *

So there. Done. Smaller than I really wanted it to be, but I went way off track of my outline. This ties me back to my outline, so hopefully I'll be able to update again sooner rather than later. 

I'm not making any promises though. Read and review if you've made it this far, please.


	15. 14: Holiday Greetings

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JKR. Xenogears is owned by Square-Enix. The plot herein might be owned by me, but if pressed by party in the first or second part about it, I don't claim that either.

Chapter 14: Holiday Greetings

* * *

Harry sat down, shocked. "Again?" He asked quietly, looking around the nearly deserted common room.

"Yes. All prefects still in the school have been asked by the staff to find out where the students were at the time of the attack. Where were you last night, Harry?" Percy asked him, his voice low.

"Practicing my forms downstairs. I couldn't get into Professor Maison's classroom to do so, so I was in the courtyard. I was the only one down there too, so I don't have anyone to prove I was there; no one's going to believe me when I say I didn't do it." Harry shook his head and let out an exasperated breath, then looked at Percy. "Who was it, anyways?"

Percy sighed. "It won't hurt to tell you, I guess, since it won't be a secret for long. Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw," He choked a little on the name. "and Nick. Both were Petrified."

"Nick?" Harry asked, confusion obvious in his voice. "Who's…" Harry trailed off, realizing just who Percy meant. "How do you do that to a _Ghost?_"

"No one knows, even the Professors are at a loss." Percy paused for a moment, looking somewhat awkward, and then continued. "Harry, I know Ron and the rest of the Weasleys don't believe you're this 'Heir', and I want you to know that neither do I." Percy stood up from his chair, located across from Harry. "I have to go report to the Headmaster. It was bad enough that the students were getting attacked and petrified, but with something happening to one of the Hogwarts' ghosts, they're going to be really bearing down to find out what's able to do all this." Just as he was about to walk away, he added in an apologetic tone, "You should… try to stay where others can see you, Harry."

Percy then left, leaving Harry to stare blankly into the fireplace, trying to piece together in his own mind what had happened.

He had no idea how long he'd sat there like that, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Hermione standing there.

"Harry?" She looked at him with concern showing in her eyes.

Harry slowly shook his head. "Another attack." He said simply, before looking back at the fire. "And I wasn't where someone else could prove I wasn't the attacker, so I get to be the one pointed at for doing it. Again."

"Harry, I… I don't know what to tell you, except we know you weren't the one that did it." Hermione stated.

Harry sighed heavily. "I know that. And I know I said I didn't care if they thought I was, but I really dislike having pretty much the whole school against me."

"Come on, let's go down to breakfast. Get the staring over with, right?" Hermione pulled at his arm.

"Right." Harry sat there a moment longer, staring into the fireplace, before standing. "Besides, need to be around people so I actually have an alibi this time, right?" He shook his head softly before walking out of the common room with Hermione.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

_Ah, the whispers,_ Harry thought to himself. Even with only a double handful of students in the Great Hall and only twice that many left in the school at all on the day after most had left for the holidays, there were still enough to stare at him and whisper.

Ignoring both, Harry calmly walked over to the Gryffindor table, sitting down across from Ron and between two other redheads. He smiled his appreciation at the show of support from the Weasleys.

One of the twins leaned over the table and held a fork up to him. "So, Harry. Tell your adoring public more about your private life, the one where you moonlight as the Heir of greasy gits and blond idiots."

Harry rolled his eyes. "If I was the Heir, you twit, the first thing I'd do is remove those two from Slytherin. Since they're still there, it's more than slightly obvious I'm not, isn't it?"

A giggle came from a little ways down the bench. Looking towards the sound, Harry saw Ginny covering her mouth.

The other twin immediately picked up another fork and held it towards her. "Anything you care to share with the world, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny quit giggling and lifted an eyebrow at her brother. "Oh, nothing George. There's no way Harry could be the Heir though."

"Oh?" George asked, waving the fork around at her. "Tell me more."

Ginny stood up and patted her brother on the cheek. "Harry's not the flashy type. If he was, we wouldn't be talking about the Heir, instead we'd be talking about the strange disappearances going on." She grinned at Harry and winked, before walking out of the Great Hall.

"Strange." George looked at Harry. "She doesn't normally act that weird. Granted, she is a Weasley and a girl, so that makes her really strange anyways, but not like that."

Harry looked at the exit to the Great Hall, where Ginny had just left. "Right. Isn't there a spell to figure out what makes a girl tick?" He asked, turning back to look at the remaining Weasleys.

Ron snorted into his goblet, choking for a moment before catching his breath. "Right. Didn't you know Harry? Merlin spent his whole life trying to design that spell and failed. Women just can't be explained."

Ron's head shot forward and he barely caught himself from putting his face into his breakfast. Harry laughed quietly, seeing Hermione's hand now occupying the space Ron's head did a moment before. "That's quite enough, Ronald." Hermione's voice was frosty.

Ron wisely didn't say anything in response.

"Aww, look at the lovers. Ain't they cute Gred?"

Both Hermione and Ron reddened as Harry laughed to himself, glad for the distraction from the stupid Heir business.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Later that day Harry was to be found in the eastern courtyard, sitting against a wall. There were several trails of fire writing floating around him, keeping the air warm. His staff laid across his lap.

_Nice open area, plenty of people to walk by and see I'm here. I'm getting tired of being blamed for this Heir crap. _ Harry shook his head at his own thoughts, before banishing them. _Practice time._

Slowly, Harry built up his Chi in his hands, creating the nearly solid barrier of Chi that was the Iron Fist. That was the easy part. Picking his staff up out of his lap, Harry concentrated and connected the small area between his hands. Not easy, but not hard. The staff seemed to be consistently pushing away his Chi, so he was forced to draw more of his own energy out to keep it wrapped around the small portion of the staff.

Harry blew out his breath, frowning at the staff. He slowly started to try to extend his Chi towards the ends of the staff, but each millimeter of progress seemed to double the amount of his Chi required to hold the technique. After a moment he let it go, the Chi surrounding the staff dispersing, while regaining the Chi left in his hands.

"Damn it," Harry grumbled to himself. "I'd kill myself trying to do this. How in the world am I supposed to manage this? Do it with magic and a wand? Sure, I've got a focus, it'll be easy. Do it by myself with Chi? Yeah, right." He continued to grumble to himself for a little longer, glaring at the staff before just leaning back and closing his eyes.

"What's up, Harry?" A familiar voice asked.

Harry opened one eye to find Ron standing in front of him, staring at him curiously. Sighing, Harry answered his friend. "That trick of Professor Maison's to extend my Iron Fist technique onto my staff. It's stupidly hard. And at the rate it eats my Chi, probably worthless too."

Ron sat down next to him, making sure to keep away from both the staff and the fire writing. "So, can't you make it take less Chi? Like our wands make it easier to cast spells?"

"Not that easy Ron." Harry shook his head. "Our wands are for magic. This isn't magic, remember?"

"What about that gem? Didn't you say your sensei said it'd work for both magic and your Chi?" Ron asked, remembering the previous conversation.

"Yeah… that'd work." Harry grinned at him. "But I think two of the crystals would work better. One for each end of the staff." Harry grabbed his wand and stood up, slashing at the fire writing. The writing faded away and Harry looked at Ron. "Hold my staff for me, I'm gonna go get them."

Harry tossed his staff to Ron without waiting for an answer and rushed up to Gryffindor tower and his dorm room, where he opened his trunk and started digging. "Come on, where is it?" Harry smiled as he found the ornately carved box. Flipping the lock and opening it up, he nodded at the six crystals surrounding the larger gem. Harry took two of them and then made sure to close and relock the box before shoving it back into his trunk and flipping that closed as well.

Minutes later, Harry was back down in the courtyard again. Ron shook his head at his friend. "In a little rush, mate?"

Grinning madly, Harry just held out his hand. "Yeah, yeah. Come on, gimme my staff. I want to see if this works."

Ron tossed it to him and Harry sat back down. Harry looked at his staff. "How to make the crystals stay on here though? Do you have a pocket knife, Ron?"

Ron shook his head.

"Professor Maison is going to kick my butt if I mess this staff up." Harry sighed as he picked up his wand. Placing the tip of the wand near the very end of the staff, Harry channeled a small amount of his magic into his wand. He thoroughly pictured in his mind, a little dug out hole in the wood. "Divot." He surged the magic through his wand, letting it take effect. There was a small pop, and when Harry pulled his wand away, a small hole was left in the staff, exactly as Harry had imagined it.

"Bloody hell, Harry. Making up spells on the fly, huh?" Ron looked between Harry and the staff.

"It was a small effect, I knew exactly what I wanted it to do, and according to Sensei Uzuki wandless magic is nothing but having your magic do what you want it to." Harry explained as he repeated the spell on the other end of the staff. "Though… I'm not sure how I'd make a spell to hold these things in while I'm actually using my staff. Guess that'll be next." Harry laughed slightly.

"You're one step closer, right?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded and then put the two crystals into the newly created slots. Delving into his Chi, Harry again started trying to cover his staff with the Iron Fist. It went much better this time. His Chi seemed to move towards the ends of the staff quicker and it took less of his reserves to get close to the crystals. Only once his Chi actually touched the crystals did he figure out something was wrong.

Just as the focus of a wand made spells stronger and easier to cast, so did the two crystals when Harry's Chi touched them. The two crystals grabbed Harry's Chi and multiplied it several times, sending it right back through the staff. Even without being able to see Chi, Harry could feel the build up. What was worse, it seemed to be bouncing back and forth between the crystals, building up power again and again. And it no longer was under his control.

Harry's eyes widened. "Oh bloody hell!" His mind was going a mile a minute, as he tried to figure out what to do.

"What?" Ron asked, suddenly very worried. "What's happening?"

A flash of insight hit Harry as he looked away from the staff to his friend. "Catch them or at least watch where they fall." He closed his eyes and rolled the staff, flinching as the two crystals fell out of the staff, breaking the circuit of energy and causing it to backlash at his hands, which were still holding on. Gritting his teeth, Harry pushed more of his Chi into the technique, nearly draining all of his energy.

Opening his eyes gingerly, Harry looked at his staff. The long piece of wood was smoking slightly, but didn't seem any worse for the wear. He then looked at Ron.

Ron was holding the two crystals in his hand and just staring at the wooden staff. "Wicked."

"Can I just have the crystals back?"

Ron looked sheepish. "Oh, yeah." He handed them back to Harry.

Harry looked at the two crystals in his hand. "Never had a problem with the gem doing that. Is it because they aren't blood bonded?" Harry asked himself.

"Blood bonded?" Ron asked quizzically.

"Yeah, meaning I'm the only one able to use them. The gem is blood bonded to me. These aren't. They can be bonded to anyone at the moment." Harry shrugged. "Only one way to find out." He grinned at Ron.

Harry bit down on his thumb, breaking the skin to draw up the blood. "Ouch, ouch, damn it. That hurt." He quickly swiped his thumb across the two crystals and then stuck his thumb in his mouth, sucking on it. "It never hurts those guys on TV to bite their thumbs to draw blood for stuff. Damn it!"

The two crystals seemed to absorb the blood and glowed for a moment with a deep red, before returning to their normal, brighter ruby red hue.

"You think?" Ron shook his head. "Newsflash Harry, biting yourself hard enough to draw blood _Hurts_."

Harry just glared at his friend, while keeping his thumb in his mouth from the pain.

"Aww, poor Potty. Is the widdle Heir mad that he hasn't killed anyone recently?" A very unwelcome voice said.

Harry looked up and pulled his thumb from his mouth and pressed it against his side, trying to stem the blood. "What do you want, Malfoy? Like I said before, I'm not the Heir. And if I was, you sure as heck wouldn't be in Slytherin."

Draco just shook his head. "Oh don't worry Potter, I don't believe you're Slytherin's Heir." Harry raised an eyebrow. "Not that I care about what happens to the Mudbloods, but I know for a fact that the Heir of Slytherin wouldn't be caught dead as a Gryffindor."

"So what, you know who the Heir is then, Malfoy?" Harry rolled his eyes at Ron.

"There's always a chance." Malfoy smirked. "But even if I did, I'd never tell the likes of you." He then turned and started to walk away.

Harry looked over to his friend. "I think I'm going to go get me some answers." He stood up.

"Need help?" Ron asked, ready to climb to his feet as well.

Harry shook his head. "Nah, shouldn't be too hard to ask Malfoy a few more questions. Might even get a real answer or two out of him." Harry pocketed the two crystals and then kicked up his staff. He held it and his wand out to Ron. "Hold onto these for me, would you? I'd rather not go up against a claim of attacking him."

Ron took the offered items and shook his head. "You do know if Malfoy knows you don't have your wand, he'll attack you, right?"

Harry just patted his pocket. "Not a problem. And I won't start a thing." He grinned mischievously to Ron before walking off at a brisk pace towards the door Malfoy had just went through.

Ron shook his head again as Harry walked away.

XXXXXXXXX

"Malfoy!"

The blond turned around, surprised to see Harry walking up to him. "What do you want, Potter? Come to try to please your betters?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No. And even if I was, they're not here at the moment anyways. What do you know about this Heir thing? I'd like to find a way to prove I'm not the Heir."

"And what if I refuse to tell you anything? You going to attack me?" Malfoy smirked, fingering his own wand.

"I left my wand with Ron. I wouldn't need it to attack you, but I'm not going to. You do realize though, whatever it is that's behind the attacks managed to do something to one of the ghosts?"

"The Gryffindor ghost, yes. So what?"

Harry shook his head. "If whatever it is can do that to a ghost, do you really think anyone is going to be safe until this stuff stops?"

"Nothing has happened to Slytherin, and nothing has happened to me Potter, so I don't care." Malfoy turned and walked away.

"Nick was a pureblood when he was alive!" Harry called after him. Malfoy stopped. "So it's not all Muggle-born and half-bloods that are being attacked."

Malfoy stood there for a few moments while Harry waited. "No, I don't know who it is. Happy, Potter? All I know is the same thing everyone does. The Chamber was opened fifty years ago, there were a series of attacks and that a Mudblood died." Malfoy started walking again and left Harry standing there.

"Well, not everyone apparently. That's news to me." Harry turned and walked back towards the courtyard.

Once there, he pulled the crystals out of his pocket and sat down. Ron handed over his staff and wand without a word.

"All I learned what was common knowledge supposedly. Except he also mentioned that the Chamber was opened before and there were attacks, and someone had died. They weren't a pureblood. I hadn't heard that before." Harry said as he put the crystals back in the divots created for them.

Ron shrugged. "I didn't know it had been opened before either. Who'd believe Malfoy actually gave you some good info. How did you handle him attacking you?"

Harry closed his eyes and started channeling his Chi before answering. "Actually, neither of us threw a single spell or punch." Harry grinned as he felt the Chi touch the crystals, but this time stay under his control. Granted, he had to control the heightened energy flowing through it still, but it was a heck of a lot better than last time. Opening his eyes, he looked down at his staff. A thin silver sheen of energy seemed to be wrapped around it. "Wicked."

* * *

See? I'm not dead yet. No excuses for how long this short of a chapter took. My apologies all. I'm not gonna make a promise as to when the next chapter will be out, but I will put it out.

Read and review. And don't beat me up too badly, please?


	16. 15: Lessons and Past Learning

**Stone Pinions**

**By Lochar**

Disclaimer: I've said it before, I'll say it again. An elephant's faithful… Oh, whoops, wrong thing to say again. Harry Potter and co. don't belong to me. Neither does Xenogears or any concepts 5-finger discounted from there. Plot's mine though!

Chapter 15: Lessons and Past Learning

* * *

He was absently looking over a textbook when he heard the yell. Looking up and across the nearly empty common room, he saw one of his best friends running down the stairs from their dorm.

"Harry, Harry! Hey, I finally managed it!" Ron stood before him, grinning from ear to ear.

Harry smiled back at his friend and raised an eyebrow. "That's great! So, what does it feel like to you?"

Ron stopped bouncing on his feet for a moment to think. "Um…" He considered for a few moments. "Well, you know how you always kept talking about how it was like a well or a pool of energy, right?" Harry nodded. "That's what was messing me up! I kept looking for water stuff."

"That's what it is; at least for me. It's a sensation of drawing on a well of energy. It just flows through you." Harry said, puzzled. "Does it work different for you?"

Ron flopped down on the couch across from Harry. "Completely. It wasn't water. It's the fire. The Flame. That's the magic." Ron shrugged. "At least for me."

Harry settled back into his chair. "So, what happened then?"

Ron's eyes lit up as he grinned. "You got the name right. The 'Void'. Big empty place in my mind. I looked everywhere in it for something, anything. I went from one side of nothing to the other side. Guess what I found? Nothing! I was getting really bloody irritated with the whole thing. About the only place I hadn't looked was where the flame was at. So, I figured I'd look under the flame. I tried to kind of reach out and move it, you know what I mean?"

Harry nodded. "You don't actually have hands, but that's what it feels like."

"Exactly! Anyways, I tried to grab it to move it, and then got hit with a blast of something. I almost thought it burnt me, but with my hands inside of it, I could actually feel the flame _inside_ me! I cast that cleaning spell in the dorm room while the fire was in me, and it felt like it went through me and my wand. The whole room's spotless now." Ron laughed excitedly. "Never had it actually do that well before."

"That's great Ron, but no more casting that way though." Harry quickly said. "Professor Maison said you could burn out your magic without instruction, remember?"

Ron paled. "Oh, yeah. I can see why he said that now."

Harry nodded his head. "Yeah. If your way is the way it normally works, I can understand it. I couldn't see how something like water would burn you out. Unless they just say that because it sounds better than drowning in my magic." Harry laughed as he stood up.

"Come on, let's go tell Hermione and Ginny. Maybe now you can teach Hermione something, huh?" Harry chuckled as Ron grinned mischievously. "They're in the library."

As the two boys walked out of the common room, Ron glanced at his friend. "What's she looking up now? I would have thought she'd still be trying to figure out the trick to her book."

"She's been looking to find out who died last time. She looking through all the old papers and whatnot." Harry explained to him.

Ron was silent for a few minutes as they continued their walk down the tower. Finally he spoke. "Why? I don't mean to be mean, but do we care about who died 50 years ago?"

"Unless it was a goblin, Professor Binns would say no." Harry grinned before continuing. "But seriously, she's looking to see if they talked about the Chamber, and maybe how they stopped attacks and those type of things from happening. I don't speed read like Hermione does or I'd be helping as well. I'd like to stop all this stuff so people would quit blaming me."

Ron nodded his head silently.

A few moments later the two boys walked into the library. After skimming past some aisles, Harry spotted Hermione and nudged Ron. "Over there." He pointed to the table where she was sitting.

Ron had to stifle a laugh at the dozens of newspapers stacked up around her. He walked up next to her; she was flipping through the pages and didn't notice him. "Ya know, Hermione, I knew you liked to read but this is just a little ridiculous, isn't it?"

Her head snapped up and she glared at Ron. "I'll have you know that-"

"I know, I know. You're searching for what happened before; I was just playing." Ron interrupted her. He sat down in a chair close to one of the piles of newspapers and pulled an obviously old paper closer to read. "'_Farmer arrested for selling magical beans to Muggles_'. Weird. Hey Hermione, guess what."

She looked up. "What Ron? If you can't tell, I'm busy at the moment."

"Well, if you don't want to know how I managed to find my magical core, I guess I can tell you when you're not busy." Ron said, putting the paper down and making to stand up.

"What? When? How?" Hermione dropped the paper she was holding, her voice incredulous.

"Just a little while ago, actually. Turns out Harry's way of drawing his magic isn't the same way I was able to find it." Ron grinned at both his friends.

"I was thinking about that, actually. It's probably because I started learning Chi first." Harry added.

"Right, anyways-".

"Hey Hermione, I got the next set of newspapers. Oh, hi guys. What's up?" A voice said from behind Harry and Ron.

Harry turned to the speaker. "Hey El-" Harry paused before correcting himself, "Ginny. Glad you're here, this way Ron doesn't have to try to explain it twice."

Ginny dropped the load of newspapers she was carrying on the table before picking one up and hitting Harry over the head with it. She then looked at her brother. "Explain what?"

"Oh… just how I managed to use my magical core." Ron's grin was ear to ear. "Even before you and Hermione, too."

Ginny rolled the newspaper up and pointed it at her brother. "Well, start explaining. Or do I have to hit you over the head too?"

"Sheesh, so violent." Ron stuck his tongue out at her. "Don't worry, I'll tell you how." He paused for a moment then looked between them. "What's the only thing you've ever been able to find in the Void?"

"Hey, you should just tell us, Ron. Not make us guess!" Ginny threatened him with the newspaper.

"Hush, I'm thinking." Hermione said to Ginny distractedly. "Well, it's a Void. There's nothing in there."

"You sure?" Ron grinned at her.

"Well, except for the flame, but…" she trailed off at Ron's barely smothered laugh. "The flame is your magic?" She frowned. "But how? We created the flame. You can't just create something and have it be your core, can you?" She looked at Harry as she said this.

Harry shrugged. "I dunno. It's different than how mine works, but it does make sense. Remember, Professor Maison didn't want you burning your magic out, right? Wouldn't a flame actually be the best way to show your magic, if it is able to burn out??"

"That's true." Hermione agreed. She then looked over the newspapers. "Now I don't know which to do. Keep looking through these, or try to find my magical core."

"I say core." Ginny voted. "I want to be able to do wandless magic."

Ron looked over the newspapers and sighed. "I guess I automatically have to say keep looking, since I already got as far as Professor Maison said we should go without his help."

"I'm either way. I'm not much help finding your core if it's the same as Ron's, and I don't speed read newspapers like you can. Your call Hermione." Harry added.

"Oh, alright. I guess we keep looking through the papers then. It's probably better to do that anyways, to see if we can find anything useful before another attack occurs." Hermione looked over the stacks of newspapers. "And even if you can't 'speed read' Harry, all I'm doing is looking over the article titles. Then we can get it done more quickly."

Harry let out a sigh as he pulled out a chair and sat down in it. "Well, guess I might as well get started then."

o0o

"Hey, I found it!" Ginny waved a newspaper.

"Thank Merlin. After four hours of these things I was going spare!" Ron groaned. "So, what happened?"

Ginny looked over the article. "'_Student Dies at Hogwarts_'… fourth year student… talk of school closure… student name withheld at parents' request…" She looked up. "No help that I can see here."

"May I?" Hermione held out her hand. Ginny handed over the paper and she read it. After a minute she looked up. "Well, in one sentence they say 'she died yesterday' once, so it looks like it a female student…" she looked at the date on the paper "forty nine years ago. Cause of death unknown, but it wasn't the killing curse. Let's check the next few days worth of papers. Maybe there'll be more."

Again the four started looking through the papers, this time with a much smaller time period to look though. A few minutes later Ron spoke up. "'_Arrest Made in Hogwarts Death Case_'. Still doesn't name who did it though. Just 'Name withheld pending trial'."

"You won't find the trial or a name either."

All four jumped and looked around to find Professor Hawwa leaning against one of the bookshelves, an amused smile on her face as she watched them.

"There wasn't a trial. It was quashed and the whole thing quietly buried." The teacher continued on.

"Why was that, Professor?" Hermione asked.

"Certain parties didn't want the trial to happen, and the one who died couldn't identify her killer." With that, she nodded to the students. "You got farther that most would have, but it's a dead-end here." She walked away, whistling lightly.

"Creepy." Ron said as he watched her leave.

Hermione frowned. "Ronald. That's not a very nice thing to say about a professor. Right?" She looked at Ginny and Harry.

Ginny nodded but Harry was still staring at the door Professor Hawwa had left through.

Harry shook his head. "How does she know that tune?" _I thought I'd made that up… _He shook his head again, remembering.

_It had been a quiet afternoon. Dudley was out at the playground and Harry was doing the chores Uncle Vernon had set for him. It wasn't very hard, just a little weeding and hedge trimming. Dudley had already done his part of it, he'd just been daydreaming and hadn't gotten to his part yet._

_It was boring though, and Harry looked at the weeds. "Annoying things, aren't you?" He laughed at them. "Guess it isn't your fault though. You just grow how you're supposed to. Isn't your fault Aunt Petunia doesn't like you."_

_Harry started humming to himself, stringing along different pitches of tone. Before long, he realized he had an actual tune going. He racked his mind trying to remember the song, if he'd heard it on the radio or telly, but couldn't place it. "Oh well. Maybe I can write songs for a living then. This one would be really good." _

"Say again?" Harry looked at Hermione, his mind now focusing on the present instead of the past.

Hermione sighed. "Never mind." She started gathering the newspapers. "Let's put all these back."

"Right." Harry said, still distracted.

"It's almost curfew and we've got Double Herbology first thing in the morning. Let's hurry up." Hermione nudged both Harry and Ron to get them moving.

"Heh. At least I've got a clear morning tomorrow. I think I'll sleep in." Ginny smiled at the second years.

"Yeah, yeah. Rub it in, why don't you?" Ron grumbled as he helped to clean up the newspapers.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Now normally class, this is the time of year that I'd introduce you all to the mandrakes, but not now. They're currently being taken care of by the sixth and seventh year NEWT students so that they'll grow quickly. For five points, can anyone tell me why?" Professor Sprout told the class as they stood outside the greenhouses.

Two hands went up. Professor Sprout smiled. "I know you know Hermione, so how about we let someone else try. Neville?"

Neville's hand went down quickly as he smiled shyly. "Um, full grown mandrakes are used in a very powerful restorative that were used a long time ago to cure the last Medusa's stonegaze curse. It petrified people and turned their bodies to stone. It should cure the petrifaction of everyone in the Hospital Wing, since it's probably the same basic type of curse."

Sprout nodded. "Very good, Neville. Ten points to Gryffindor. Five for knowing why, and another five for the correct history lesson as well." She opened the door to the greenhouse. "So instead of mandrakes, today we'll be going over the magical version of snapdragons." She led the students into the greenhouse.

Harry looked thoughtful.

o0o

After class, Harry asked Hermione a question. "Could it be a Medusa?"

She shook her head. "Very doubtful. You heard Neville, right? That last Medusa he was talking about was killed thousands of years ago. Mandrakes are used in other restoring potions as well, that's why they're still grown. It's not like they are grown to stop Medusa attacks." She tapped her chin. "Besides, no one has turned to stone, have they?"

"Oh. No, you're right." Harry grinned sheepishly. "I was just hoping that we'd found out what it was."

Ron laughed quietly. "I wish it was that easy, Harry. We don't have that good of luck."

"True." Harry shrugged. "Oh well. I guess we'll found out what's attacking them when the potion's made. Then the Headmaster will be able to fix it."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all walked into the Muggle Studies classroom, not surprised at seeing the mats laid out. It was time for Harry's lesson, after all.

"Oh, all four of you showed up?" Professor Maison said, raising an eyebrow at them.

"Ron and myself have managed to find and use our magical cores, Professor." Hermione said.

"Yeah, and even though I know how to do it, it doesn't work for me." Ginny pouted, then grumbled. "Always me getting left out."

"Congratulations are in order for the two of you, then. Reaching the Corecas level, even with specific training to reach it, at your age is a remarkable feat. After Mr. Potter's lesson this afternoon, we'll go over how to use them properly and not risk burning yourselves out. And as for you Miss Weasley, I would assume it is because your core is not developed enough yet to draw upon directly. That will come in time." The professor stated. "But the three of you have a seat for now."

Ginny, Hermione, and Ron nodded and sat down against the wall, farther away from where Harry and Professor Maison were standing.

"Professor Maison," Harry started, "I managed to get Chi all the way around my staff and hold it in the Iron Fist technique." Harry held out the staff he was carrying.

Maison blinked. "Excuse me?" He asked in an astonished voice.

"I can make an Iron Fist around my staff now." Harry paused. "But it's not really a fist now I guess. Iron Staff?" He laughed at the thought.

"Not that I don't believe you, but can you show me please?" Harry's teacher asked.

Nodding, Harry sat down on the mats, the staff sitting in his lap. Putting a hand into his pocket, Harry pulled out the two crystals. "I can't do it yet without adding these, but I can do it." He put the crystals into the divots and closed his eyes, calling up his Chi and sending it through the staff and into the two crystals. Once the energy was built up enough, Harry solidified it into the technique.

"Well enough, Mr. Potter." Maison said after a moment. "Especially for a training exercise I never meant for you to be able to complete."

Harry let go of the technique and then opened his eyes, the question echoed there reflected only a moment later as he asked it. "Never complete it?"

Professor Maison nodded. "Yes. Think of how many spells have been used on that staff. One to grow it to its current size from the haft it was created from, another to make it nearly unbreakable, and apparently you used magic on it yourself to create those spots for your crystals."

Harry nodded, but still looked confused as to what difference that would make.

Maison looked between him and his three friends sitting to the side. "You remember back near the beginning of the year, when I told you four the difference between Chi and magic?"

"Yeah, you were talking about why I couldn't get a very good amount of Chi because I can already do magic, right?" Ron spoke up.

Maison nodded. "Exactly. Magic doesn't allow Chi to flow very well, if at all. With the number of spells on that staff, you shouldn't have been able to use a technique like that on it. I set it for you entirely on the basis of strengthening your reserves." Maison shook his head and chuckled ruefully. "Even if you got around the requirement of insanely large reserves to correctly do that technique on a staff as imbued with magic as it is, you still managed it."

"But what good does it do me, Professor? It takes me way too long to do it and it's still hard to control the amount of Chi that's going through the staff." Harry noted.

"Yes, but if you had a hand-carved staff, or one created through Muggle means, it would accept your Chi much easier, without the use of a focus." Maison explained. "But enough of that. I still want you to attempt it without those crystals, as a way of expanding your reserves."

Maison walked over to the wall and tapped his wand, opening the storage area. He pulled out his own staff. "It is practice time for you." He said as he turned around. "En guarde!"

Harry pocketed the two crystals again and stood up, shifting into a defensive position.

"Full contact." Maison announced, only seconds before swinging his staff at Harry.

Harry's eyes widened before raising his own staff a few inches higher and catching the attack headed for his temple. He immediately had to block a low attack as well and then stepped back to give himself room.

Moving into a slightly more aggressive stance, Harry flicked out the end of his staff at his teacher, not surprised when it was met by the other staff. Quickly unwrapping his fist from the staff, he pushed with his open palm on the staff, making it slide down Maison's staff, heading for his hand.

Maison pulled that hand back out of the guard lock, catching Harry with the other end of his staff.

Harry winced as he felt the wood impact with his upper arm, but kept going with his attack. Maison was forced to jump back quickly to avoid a hit into his side from Harry's staff.

Harry rolled his arm and winced at the feeling of a bruise that was almost certainly already forming, making it hard to use the full motion of his arm. Stepping into another defensive position that favored said arm, Harry waited.

"It's good you're willing to take a hit to give your opponent a harder one, but if you're going to take that hit, make sure your opponent takes his as well." Maison stated. He took a step forward to attack again.

The two traded blows of staff for a long minute, before Harry fell back, panting.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, testing his arm again. _I'm definitely not going to win this with my arm like it is. All or nothing it is._ The Void naturally falling over Harry, he reached out and channeled his Chi to his arms. He then spun around to build up speed, his hands gripping his staff tightly.

Maison started talking as soon as Harry started to move. "You really shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent, and never do something as blatantly obvious as that. It's easy enough for me to step back again." Maison took a half-step backwards once Harry's back was to him, enough room for the staff to pass harmlessly in front of him.

He was therefore surprised to see Harry come around not holding the staff in a center grip, but holding it by the end, extending his reach more than the half-step he had taken back.

Cursing to himself for underestimating his opponent, Maison angled his staff to deflect Harry's own at the ground. Harry's Chi strengthened swing hit his teacher's staff and both could feel the staves reverberating with the power used.

Instead of sliding into the ground like Maison wanted it to, Harry gave his arms a little leeway and allowed the staff to slide across the professor's guard. But Harry had lost his momentum and had a bad hold of his staff, so he was entirely unsurprised when his teacher stepped into the attack and swung.

Maison smiled at his student. "Not bad. I didn't expect that last attack, but I never taught you to use an end grip. Otherwise I probably would have lost at your last move." Maison pulled his staff away from where it sat against Harry's neck. "But I think that will be the end of practice today, since I need to work with two of your friends."

Harry stepped back and nodded. "Yes sir, Professor Maison."

Harry sat down on the mats, gingerly testing his arm as Professor Maison returned his staff to its proper place.

Maison sat down on the mats and motioned to the other three to come over. "Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger. The two of you have reached the magical stage known as 'Corecas'. What this means is that the two of you now have the potential for wandless magic, and to control the amount of magic you channel for spells into your wands."

Ginny frowned. "What's so different between them and me?"

"Magical development." Maison answered. "They've been pushing their potential for about a year longer than you have, Miss Weasley. From what I understand," he motioned to Hermione and Ron, "you two at the moment have the potential to cast any spell from the fifth year set of spells and below, and most of the sixth year set. Sixth year is when we start teaching students about alternate forms of magical ability. Apparition is actually a form of wandless magic that most people learn at that time. It's also the only form most of them learn."

"So I'll be at this point next year then, if I keep pushing like they have?" Ginny asked.

"Or sooner, or a bit later. It depends on what your personal ability started off as." Maison told her. "Now, these lessons are just as important for you to listen to as it is for your brother and friend."

Harry grinned at them all.

Maison spared Harry a glance. "It wouldn't hurt you either, Mr. Potter. You may have power to spare, especially with those two crystals you have, but there is a limit to it."

Maison turned back to Hermione and Ron. "Now, you have power. What you lack is control. I assume you both use the flame as your source of magic, correct?"

Both nodded.

"The flame represents your emotions. Magic is based off your power and your emotions. There are even certain spells, both Light and Dark, that require the presence and use of emotion. When you feel the flame in your body and you cast magic, you are using all of your emotions to cast magic. This can create a much more powerful spell, but it can also use up all your magic and leave you none with which to regenerate." Maison explained.

"So we need to learn to not use our emotions with magic then?" Hermione asked, her brow furrowed.

Maison shook his head negatively. "No, not quite. You need to learn to only use certain emotions with your magic. And to not throw everything into it as well."

Maison drew his wand. "Now, there are several states of mind that reflect your emotions and the use of magic. The only one I will be working with you is satisfaction and contentment. It reflects a mild state of happiness. You are satisfied with your spellwork and content in the fact that the magic works the way you wish it to. Wands out. You too, Miss Weasley. These practices are just as good for you."

All three drew their wands.

"Now, enter the Void and call up the flame. Make the flame empty, so that it is burning but the fuel of your emotions is not there." Maison told them.

The three struggled with this. "But to make the Void we're supposed to feed the flame emotion, right?" Hermione asked.

"Then once you are in the Void, pull the emotion back into yourself. Let the Void fall away but the flame remains." Maison sighed quietly to himself. _How did I get stuck teaching first and second years magic this advanced? Oh yes, it was that or watch them burn themselves out attempting to puzzle it out on their own._

Maison continued to coach them for several more hours with minimal success before telling them to stop. "It's nearly dinner time, and I for one am hungry. Practice this until you are able to retain the flame without emotion or the Void. Once you've managed that, feed it back what you consider satisfaction. The easiest to do will be the satisfaction of completing this step of your training."

He paused, looking between them all. "Once all three of you are able to do that, we'll go on to the next step."

* * *

So, there you have it. The next chapter. It was actually a little larger than the last few of them. Mainly because it seemed to write itself.

How'd you like it? Read and review, please!


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